Charlotte Metcalf is the Editor of Great British Brands and the co-presenter of Break Out Culture, a weekly podcast with former Minister of Culture, Lord Vaizey. She is also a film-maker, author and journalist. Every week she’ll be reporting on cultural events, exhibitions, fairs and publications that are of interest to the communities of craftsmen we represent and celebrate, with a particular focus on goldsmiths and silversmiths.
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Craftsmen strive for beauty, yet beauty in both art and architecture seems to have all but disappeared. Art has become increasingly conceptual and functionality has long been seen as the modern architect’s principal quest.
Enter the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust, chaired by design guru and co-founder of London’s Design Museum, Stephen Bayley. The Trust is a registered charity with a mission to promote design excellence and public appreciation of architecture with the legendary architect, Norman Foster, at its helm as President.
On Monday, 21st November the Trust held its first-ever Building Beauty Awards, sponsored by property developer Ballymore and fittingly held in the Bloomberg Building, the Stirling Prize-winning building, designed by Lord Foster himself. I was honoured to host the evening.
Oglesby Centre – Photo Credit: Daniel Hopkinson
Prizes were awarded across four categories: buildings, engineering, public spaces and little gems, the latter designed to cheer residents and bring pride to a built neighbourhood. The judges were advertising guru and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Rory Sutherland, writer, colour expert and cultural historian Kassia St. Clair, director of the World Architecture Festival, Paul Finch, writer, commentator, historian and editor Clive Aslet and jeweller, Theo Fennell.
The overall prize included £10,000, making it the joint biggest prize in architecture, plus the opportunity to represent Britain at the first-ever Royal Fine Art Commission Trust International Building Beauty Prize at World Architecture Festival in Lisbon on 30th November.
McGrath Road – Photo Credit: (all above) Morley von Sternberg
‘Beauty is impossible to define but easy to detect,’ says Stephen Bayley and the judges easily reached a consensus on the winners. In the building category, the winner was a high-density, shared-ownership housing development in McGrath Road in Stratford, by Peter Barber Architects for the London Borough of Newham. The building is set around a central communal courtyard with clever breaks in the façade. The judges praised the high-quality materials used and attention to detail on top of a robust aesthetic, which generated a sense of pride, evident amongst its residents, which also served to give a lift to the entire deprived neighbourhood.
Illuminated River – Photo Credit: Medresa
When it came to public spaces, the winner was the Illuminated River project stretching three miles across nine Thames bridges in central London, created by Lifshutz Davidson Sandilands and Leo Villareal Studio for the Illuminated River Foundation. Until recently the Thames at night was a dull, black ribbon winding through London but now it is a glorious, ever-shifting light festival that has put the mighty Thames where it deserves to be, right back at the heart of our capital.
Tower of Light and Wall of Energy – Photo Credit: David Valinsky
An uncompromising low-carbon energy centre on a neglected road junction in Manchester won the Little Gems Award. The Tower of Light and Wall of Energy by Tonkin Liu Architects for Manchester City Council and Vital Energi is now a stunning structure, a wall and tower housed in a lattice envelope that mutates into compelling patterns, with the wall reflecting the headlights of passing cars. Judges talked of the shabby junction being ‘redeemed’ by this convincing, beautifully made, solid structure, helping to give the city cohesion and prevent it being divided into prettified rich ghettoes and impoverished abandoned messes.
Tintagel Castle Footbridge – Photo Credit: (both images above) Hufton & Crow, (top of page) David Levene
It was the engineering category that ceded the overall winner. Tintagel Castle Footbridge in Cornwall, by Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates for English Heritage provides level access to the ancient Arthurian castle on the perilous, rugged Atlantic coast. The 225-ft steel bridge comprises two cantilevers, which Lord Foster described as appearing to kiss each other. The balustrades are of such fine stainless steel that they disappear against the sky when seen from a distance. The bridge is graceful, perfectly poised and restrained, according to judges, ‘a functional and aesthetic triumph’. It provides drama and excitement for visitors, adding to the experience of visiting the castle. Stephen Bayley says that while it’s impossible to define beauty it always serves to make life feel more exciting than it already is – as is the case here.
Ivy Street – Photo Credit: Johan Dehlin
The resurrection of beauty as an important element in building is long overdue. Since the explosion of abstract expressionism in the sixties, beauty has been severely dismissed as old-fashioned and traditional. In architecture it yielded to the brutal functional practicality we see in so many buildings today. Judging by the enthusiastic reception at the awards, The Royal Fine Art Commission Trust is on a very popular mission. As Stephen Bayley points out, no-one wants to live somewhere ugly when beautiful surroundings make everyone feel better. Lord Foster quotes the proven fact that patients who have a nice view from a window recover quicker and leave hospital earlier than those who don’t. Beauty is essential for our wellbeing and in our current climate of global uncertainty, who can deny that this is a sensible, laudable mission worthy of universal support?
Read about our press mentions and awards for the project
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