All articles by Gus Alexander – Page 3
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CommentYou know your trouble, sun
As we know, the British are obsessed with the weather. So why are we unable to respond with any kind of style when it rises above 30 degrees for two days on the trot?
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FeaturesForget the fox in a box - Here's worsley Mesnes
In February, Building published a feature about Dr Stephen Fox, a Wigan GP who'd been operating out of a rundown prefab for 11 years. The article claimed Dr Fox had been failed by the LIFT programme. Wigan's NHS trust then replied with an angry letter claiming we'd given a one-sided ...
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CommentKing's ransom
Consider for a moment the amount of hassle involved in a party wall dispute in Sidcup. Now, dear reader, consider the reconstruction of King's Cross Tube station …
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CommentIf there must be sport …
If we really have to have beach volleyball and synchronised swimming in our capital, can we get our architects to make sure that they're staged in style?
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CommentA Christmas dinner
When it comes to the economics of happiness, a guaranteed maximum price can entail unacceptable costs – as this festive tale demonstrates
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CommentA waste of energy
When you put out a tender, you often get a bid that comes in 40% lower than the rest. The thing to do is to save yourself a lot of trouble and bin it …
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CommentMove over, Don Quixote
Here’s the inspiring story of one man’s extraordinary, insane, visionary quest to attach a small illuminated sign to the side of a listed building
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FeaturesDesigner Power
Gus Alexander heads to Portobello Road, Notting Hill, to take a look at a swanky residential scheme that is a testament to the very hands-on approach of its architect
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CommentBeing Frank
Frank Lloyd Wright’s extraordinary Fallingwater is an object lesson for all architects in how to get the client to want what you want them to want
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CommentConsidering Louis Khan
If you want some perspective on your own problems, how about contemplating a genius’ lifelong struggle with rejection at the hands of a confederacy of dunces?
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FeaturesDiarmuid Gavin
Don’t be fooled by the affable exterior – television’s most popular gardener is plotting a revolution in our own back yards. Here he lets us in on the secret and tries to recruit you as well.
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In praise of propellerheads
The idea of turning the north bank of the Thames into a cultural centre to rival the south is a good idea that probably won’t happen, for these reasons …
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CommentHold that axe
The architecture school at Cambridge is a world-class institution renowned for the calibre of its ex-students (ahem). Only the Brits could think of shutting it down
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CommentMean streets
If you want to make a difference to the quality of Britain’s environment, let’s have a crack at our ungenerous, confusing and arbitrary signage
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FeaturesThe case of the dancing hotel
For a budget flophouse, the Cambridge Travelodge looked like a cool and classy piece of work. But then Gus Alexander found out what happened when the lights went down …
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CommentAugust blues
The pleasure of rowing your own little boat in the modern construction industry is offset by the knowledge that you are at the mercy of a big, cruel sea
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CommentIt's a gas, gas, gas
Welcome to the crazy mixed-up world of utilities, where you never know who's selling what or who's going to install it – and neither does anybody else!
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FeaturesThe Lewisham job
They designed it so a gang of third graders could have pulled it off. It was fast, it was easy and the score was 30 mill. Only drawback was, it was a police station – but they had a plan for that, too … Gus 'The Hat' Alexander cases the ...
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Living on one's wits
Small practices are the tiny, furry mammals skipping under the scaly feet of industry dinosaurs, with an agility and an imagination that they can't begin to grasp