Let’s get the world to open their eyes..

On a slightly unrelated note: even with slot-together system building of steel, aluminium, rockwool and glass we still seem to be incapable of consistently making buildings that don’t leak.

The short life span has a benefit - it’s that much sooner until the planners of bath will have another opportunity to make an appropriate and sensitive development to enhance bath rather than cheapen it. I say give two fingers to the greedy developers, raze the thing and have a park.. it isn’t as if Bath really needs more coffee houses and jewellery shops.

Still, I’m sure the finished thing will be quite pleasant while it lasts - save for the gnashing of architecturally -sensitive teeth.

The Southgate development will have tourists believe it is Georgian and stands up by stone, not concrete and steel.

Hiding details such as the electric cables around my desk or gutter details does not seem to be deceptive, at least in the terms I was talking about - the relationship between form and structure and consequently that of material use.

And the point about the Georgian buildings being damp and cold is interesting. Compared to our era they are bad, with lots of cold bridges etc. But what about in their context? How did their buildings compare with those of the 100year period before? What if we go back to buildings before the use of glass?!

Certainly interesting points, but think we are not talking about the same stuff.

On the Southgate front must say I suspect that I will agree whole heartedly with Robin who says it will lack, grace, proportion and elegance, although I reserve my judgement untill it is complete.

However, I disagree with your implication that Georgian architecture was anything other than deceptive. It is completely. Your picture of the model clearly shows how fraudulent georgian architecture is with it’s stone cladding to hide all the load bearing rubble. And the to say the georgian obsession with hiding every bit of functionallity of a building, the gutters, the servants stairs, the window mechanisms. Georgain houses too come with their fare share of problems: damp, rot, coldness, condensation.

I feel that the Southgate centre has the potential to offer the same amount of fraudlance, with out the damp and the cold.

Just a thought?!

This scheme is an insult to the history of Bath. It has pilasters and Bath stone, but it doesn’t have any of the grace and proportional elegance of a proper Georgian building.

Hopefully, in 20 years it will be razed to the ground like the Owen Luder scheme that preceded it.