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Sir Michael Bichard with architects from Gollifer Langstone |
‘Design can change people’s lives’
Camden can lead the way in redeveloping urban spaces, say top architects at award ceremony
BRITISH architects are better appreciated abroad than at home, the chairman of the UK Design Council declared at an awards ceremony celebrating the best new buildings in Camden.
Sir Michael Bichard, who was presenting gongs at the 10th Camden Design Awards last Wednesday, said although the country was turning out first-class designers, it had taken planners and developers time to catch up.
At the reception, held at the German Gymnasium in St Pancras, architects, councillors, planners and clients rubbed shoulders while viewing a scale model of the possible layout of buildings suggested for the King’s Cross railway lands.
Judging panel chairman Conservative councillor Mike Greene said Camden was in a unique position to make a borough that led the way in urban design. He said: “Over 50 per cent of the borough is within conservation areas and includes 5,645 listed buildings. Architecture and design play an important role in the cultural life of the borough.
“The Bartlett School of Architecture at University College, the Architectural Association and 7 per cent of the UK’s registered architects all live within the boundaries.
“It means Camden is well placed to play a significant role in the development of good practice and new thinking in the wider debates around design and the built environment.”
Presenting the awards, Sir Michael implored planners and architects to publicise the responsibility their disciplines have in ensuring a greener future.
“For many people design in this country is still flaky,” he said. “Some of our great architects are more appreciated outside the UK than here. But design is being taken much more seriously now as a factor in improving life in London, but it is not just about architects, products or fashion. Design is much broader.
“Design can change lives. These are the big issues of our time – design is about sustainability and the environment”.
• THE winners of the awards were St Pancras International; a mobile work station in the playground of Haverstock School called The Classroom of the Future; an extension to a private house in Gloucester Crescent; the Gray’s Inn Buildings, which are a set of social housing in Clerkenwell; and Latitude House, a block of flats at the junction of Parkway and Gloucester Crescent.
There were 38 buildings nominated which were whittled down to a shortlist of 14 by the judging panel, which included Dan Carrier of the Camden New Journal. |
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