Events | 2010.03.29
Nouvel by name, novel by nature | Ruth Collins
Jean Nouvel\'s modern take on traditional architecture deserves recognition for its role in shaping our urban landscapes
The announcement last week that Jean Nouvel is this year\'s chosen architect for the Serpentine Gallery pavilion was met with scorn and derision. Much of the criticism also suggests that parochial views on what constitutes "good British architecture" are still prevalent and there are fears that modern architectural design is tainting our urban landscapes.
Despite winning the Pritzker prize , architecture\'s highest accolade, in 2008, and continuing to be at the very forefront of international architectural projects spanning across the world, this is Nouvel\'s first ever installation in the UK. Although the Frenchman\'s name may be relatively unknown in this country, this is soon to change as his design for One New Change , a £500m office and shopping complex just east of St Paul\'s Cathedral in London, is underway and scheduled to open at the end of 2010. The complex has already won the Mipim architectural review future projects award and illustrates that Nouvel is by no means "past his creative prime" or a "tired and disappointing choice", as one critic recently claimed.
A notoriously vocal critic of modern architecture, our very own Prince Charles reportedly attempted to convince the developers of the One New Change complex to drop Nouvel from the scheme last August, stating unequivocally that he "didn\'t want a modernist" masterminding the project.
Such inflammatory remarks are not uncommon from the prince and certainly not confined to Nouvel. He first publicly voiced his opinion on modern architecture in 1984 during a royal gala evening held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects . Not packing his punches lightly, he infamously described Ahrends Burton Koralek \'s proposed designs to extend the National Gallery as "a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend".
He did have a point, however, when he said that architects should be preoccupied by "the way people live, the environment they inhabit and the kind of community that is created by that environment". It is somewhat ironic then, that, 25 years later, the prince criticised the choice of Nouvel, given that developers for One New Change have been praised for not submitting "to a more historicist approach" and that the design itself is said to act as "a reminder of the bustling life of the seventeenth century city of London". Nouvel\'s design harks back to a bygone era in London\'s history, perhaps just not in the same way that traditionalists like the prince perceive it should. Rather, Nouvel believes that his buildings can contrast with their surrounding environment, describing this as a "dialogue" which actively gives an "advantage to the surroundings".
In the late 80s, Norman Foster , a household name in British architecture, designed the Carré d\'Art , in Nîmes, France, in such a way that its glass, concrete and steel structures would visibly reflect the original Roman temple of the Maison Carré , which directly faces it across the square. Similarly, Nouvel\'s design for the World Arab Institute in Paris, also built in the 80s, gives a modern take on traditional Arab architectural styles. In these projects, both architects exemplified how modern architectural designs do not necessarily entail constructions that are completely devoid of traditional concepts: architecture can, as Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry once put it, "speak of its time and space, but yearn for timelessness".
Although Gehry himself is often criticised for not living up to this notion, there is no doubting that, among other issues such as the emphasis on using sustainable materials and finding ways of reusing materials to reduce expenditure, many modern architects also take into account the surrounding environmental context of the buildings and complexes which they are designing.
Of course, neither art nor architecture will ever please everyone. After all, as with Nouvel\'s World Arab Institute, Foster\'s Gherkin received criticism when it was first built, but is now one of the most iconic components of London\'s architectural landscape. In fact, a foreign friend of mine commented recently that they thought the variation in London\'s skyline – the old juxtaposed with the new – was one of its most attractive and distinctive qualities. Evidently modern architecture deserves more recognition for the valued contribution it makes to the urban landscapes that we live in today.
• This article was commissioned following a suggestion made by FrankX in a previous You tell us thread
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/[...]erpentine-gallery-architecture
