The incumbent, David Rock, said the 25% turnout indicates general satisfaction with the way the organisation is being run. A more cynical approach would be that members think that the organisation is going to muddle on as it is, and that no amount of change in the leadership is going to make a huge difference.
My last visit to 66 Portland Place was to attend a special screening of the latest biography of Frank Lloyd Wright. The main hall has never been the most comfortable auditorium, and serving as a cinema really highlighted its shortcomings – particularly compared with the multiplexes that are springing up all over the country.
The sound system reminded me of the travelling cartoon shows we pre-video kids were offered as birthday treats, and the screen had about as much sparkle as an old groundsheet. When you think of the quality of audio-visual display even a medium-sized practice can muster to seduce a prospective client, the equipment on offer at the RIBA was cruddy, to say the least.
In true institute style, the second reel was the same as the first, and was then replaced by the third. It was not until 80% of the audience had left that the projectionist admitted he did have the second reel after all, and he would show it to the 30 of us who were left, if we wanted (which we did – and very inspirational it turned out to be).
The shoddy presentation was a stark contrast to Goldschmied’s election address, which he gave at Richard Rogers Partnership’s offices in Hammersmith, west London, last month. His talk was fluent and accessible, with a well-organised slide show and very agreeable eats and drinks in the office canteen, also known as the River Café.
If any architect’s office is better designed to have prospective punters reaching for their chequebooks than the Richard Rogers Partnership headquarters, I have yet to see it. It is a confidence-inspiring combination of commercial office and design studio, developed by the practice itself. What it says to the client is that, despite the firm being more than 100-strong, Richard Rogers Partnership’s buildings look as though they have been produced by a few collaborating talents, and not just spewed out by a corporate design machine.
The RIBA should be the home of a learned and scholarly professional institute and a showcase for the architectural design talents of its members – a disproportionate number of whom are global players of the first rank.
Goldschmied’s platform is “good design pays”, a sensible approach in this increasingly cost-conscious commissioning climate
Parts of the RIBA are already wonderful. The building has become far more accessible since Café Valerie opened a opened its first-floor sanctuary for any member of the public seeking escape from the ghastliness of Oxford Street on a Saturday lunchtime.
The revamped bookshop is also good browsing territory, and Goldschmied promises to continue to upgrade these facilities. His principal platform is “good design pays”, and this must be a sensible approach in this increasingly cost-conscious commissioning climate, particularly if good design is associated with employing architects.
Practising architecture at any level is partly a commercial operation and partly an artistic endeavour. Goldschmied’s CV presents maybe the best combination of the two that a president has had since Michael Manser more than 15 years ago, and his practice certainly enjoys the highest international reputation of any I can think of. This may not boost the status of small firms such as my own, but his vow to raise the profile of architects must be right, and you may as well start at the top.
But what does Goldschmied have in common with the guys at the bottom? As he says, for three years after building the Pompidou Centre, Rogers, Goldschmied and two others were scratching around for things to do, a small practice like any other; and he knows architects who have left Rogers to set up on their own.
In Building’s profile (12 March), Goldschmied cites Wright’s 1936 Johnson Wax headquarters in Wisconsin as his favourite building. Although this architectural landmark was notoriously over-budget, it rapidly became the most famous building in the country, much to the delight of the client.
“Well Frank,” said Herbert Johnson, some 12 months after it opened, “your building may have cost me a packet to build, but all the publicity is sure saving me a fortune in my advertising account.”
Burns and Novick’s 1998 film Frank Lloyd Wright is at the NFT2 on 7 April.
Postscript
Gus Alexander runs his own architectural practice in north London.
