Alberto Villanueva, head of the Department of Architecture, Ravensbourne University London<\/strong><\/p>\nFor Alberto Villanueva, hosting the charrette provided an opportunity to engage his students and the wider community in the debate over reuse and retrofit. \u2018I really like it when the people who take decisions bring the conversation to the public,\u2019 he says, adding that the controversy over the future of M&S\u2019s flagship store has really caught people\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
Londoners already \u2018know about this case; they\u2019ve read about it in the news,\u2019 he says. \u2018People agree that demolition is unsustainable, and that our heritage has value. This charrette shows how things can be done differently; and I hope that the outcome will be that people reflect more on these issues.\u2019<\/p>\n
That public engagement ethos fits well with the approach of Ravensbourne\u2019s Department of Architecture, which is keen to build connections with local communities. It also specialises in architectural reuse and adaptation, making it a perfect host for the charrette.<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re a smaller architecture school,\u2019 says Villanueva, \u2018and I want people to know that we collaborate and welcome people; that we are innovative, energetic, open. How amazing that my students could be embedded with architects on this project, talking about heritage and sustainability and understanding the city context.\u2019<\/p>\n
Simon Henley, partner, Henley HaleBrown<\/strong><\/p>\n\u2018My grandfather, who was born in the late 19th century , wasn\u2019t consuming; he was making-do and mending,\u2019 says event judge Simon Henley. By the time he died in 1983, though, the UK had developed into a \u2018consumer society, driven by an American model of commerciality\u2019 in which \u2018everything gets consumed and replaced faster and faster and faster\u2019.<\/p>\n
Henley believes that, under the pressure of the climate emergency, this must end. Meanwhile, behaviour changes prompted by online shopping and the pandemic are also challenging the business model of London\u2019s retail heartlands. \u2018The West End\u2019s trying to work out what the hell it is,\u2019 he says. \u2018Probably, over time, more people will start living there again\u2019 \u2013 creating demand for local restaurants, bars and pubs that demand finer-grained, more permeable buildings.<\/p>\n
So the challenge in reviving the M&S store is that of reintroducing a sense of human scale and of physical legibility. \u2018That deep, dark space is very energy-hungry to inhabit: mechanically-ventilated, air-conditioned, artificially-lit,\u2019 explains Henley. \u2018And it\u2019s a physical volume of space and floors which doesn\u2019t make any sense to an individual.\u2019 Allowing in natural light and creating a space fit for humans will mean being \u2018reasonably invasive, almost aggressive with the frame of the building.\u2019<\/p>\n
The flagship store, Henley believes, could instead lead the way to a less consumerist approach to the built environment. \u2018Innovation is a word that’s been associated with great architecture now for 75, 100 years,\u2019 he says. \u2018Maybe we should be paying more attention to continuity and durability.\u2019<\/p>\n
Neal Shasore, head of school and chief executive, London School of Architecture<\/strong><\/p>\nThe teams presented \u2018a great range of ideas\u2019 says event judge Neal Shasore. He was \u2018enormously impressed by their energy and enthusiasm\u2019. Some commonalities among their ideas, though, raise \u2018bigger questions for us all to reflect on about retrofit and heritage.\u2019<\/p>\n
In expressing the building\u2019s heritage value, he says, the teams focused on the \u2018memory of the retail environment; of the department store. Yet very few of the projects, if any, sought through architecture, through design, to record that; to preserve it \u2013 so it became all about the facade.\u2019<\/p>\n
Architecturally, that fa\u00e7ade is unremarkable; but behind it, says Shasore, is something much more interesting: the 1920s building was among the first built using modern, steel-framed construction techniques. And while many buildings of this era on London\u2019s premier shopping streets are listed, M&S\u2019s property is not \u2013 creating a rare opportunity to take a very different approach to heritage.<\/p>\n
Architects could, for example, \u2018take off the Portland stone fa\u00e7ade, or bits of it; expose the concrete or steel,\u2019 says Shasore, arguing that the teams\u2019 responses revealed a set of shared \u2018orthodoxies\u2019 about how we handle \u2018heritage\u2019 buildings.<\/p>\n
Architects could \u2018weave more narrative, more ideas, more life into buildings \u2013 not just make them look as safe as possible, so no one gets upset,\u2019 he concludes. \u2018In the best moments of the proposals, I felt that teams were starting to get to that \u2013 but it also revealed something quite cozy and consensual about the way we think about heritage, and that might need revisiting.\u2019<\/p>\n
Hattie Hartman, sustainability editor, AJ<\/strong><\/p>\nReshaping a building is a greater challenge than replacing it, says event judge Hattie Hartman. \u2018You come across things that you weren’t expecting; you have to be very skilful and very resilient. But if it\u2019s done well you get the most extraordinary results, because you retain the character of the existing building.\u2019 The trick, she adds, is to \u2018make modest interventions that enhance that character, without overwhelming it.\u2019<\/p>\n
Hartman was impressed by the quality of the teams\u2019 ideas, noting that several had \u2018analysed in detail the constraints of the existing building, the existing context, and proposed commercially viable approaches.\u2019 Five years on from the launch of the AJ\u2019s RetroFirst campaign, she adds, \u2018it’s remarkable to see how many of the proposals creatively rebrand M&S as a retrofit hub \u2013 promoting not only slow fashion and slow food, but also circular building materials. It’s extraordinary to think of salvaged doors and windows being sold on Oxford Street.\u2019<\/p>\n
In Hartman\u2019s view, the teams\u2019 concepts \u2018demonstrate beyond any doubt that the existing M&S building can be not only retained, but turned into an asset which brings life to that part of Oxford Street.\u2019 Now leadership is required, she argues \u2013 not only from a new national government, but also from the retailer.<\/p>\n
Sanaa Shaikh, founder, Native Studio<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s ever more crucial, event judge Sanaa Shaikh believes, that architects develop the skills to help property owners reuse rather than rebuild their troubled assets.<\/p>\n
o Shaikh \u2013 a leading voice in the Architects Climate Action Network \u2013 was excited to see the six teams\u2019 ideas for M&S\u2019s flagship store. \u2018It was really great to see so much wonderful effort and care and consideration in the proposals,\u2019 she says. \u2018There was a good balance of imagination and realism.\u2019<\/p>\n
That said, she\u2019d have liked to see \u2018a bit more aspiration\u2019. There was \u2018an element of conservatism\u2019 in the presentations, she says. The teams talked about the building\u2019s cultural significance as an iconic department store \u2013 but their response was to preserve its classic looks, rather than reshaping them for a changed retail environment. \u2018There was a \u201cLet’s not mess with it\u201d approach,\u2019 she adds: she\u2019d been hoping for something more adventurous than a \u2018charity shop version of Selfridges.\u2019<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the ideas provide a host of promising ways forward for the Oxford Street property. Now all that\u2019s required, she concludes, is for M&S to say: \u2018Let\u2019s come together and find a way forward as to how these ideas could be developed, and how we could reimagine this space.\u2019<\/p>\n
Film by Ernest Simons<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Judges\u2019 comments Alberto Villanueva, head of the Department of Architecture, Ravensbourne University London For Alberto Villanueva, hosting the charrette provided an opportunity to engage his students and the wider community in the debate over reuse and retrofit. \u2018I really like it when the people who take decisions bring the conversation to the public,\u2019 he says, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81330,"featured_media":742023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[681],"tags":[2304,67853,3599,1342,1171],"yoast_head":"\n
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