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Title: Comment Pages: 20 - 22   
Author: Editorial Text: COMMENT Playground defensive Telegraph poles, concrete and granite sets from dismantled Kings Cross roadways were the chief raw materials for this toughest of all adventure playgrounds. Physically it is well suited to the robust natures of the kids in the Bingfield St neighbourhood. As an idea, it is blessedly non-abstract, a solidly fantastic landmark in an area which is visually no fun whatsoever. The Crumbles Play Castle was organised and designed by architecture students Catherine Davis, Robert Hamment, Robert Parker and Jill Seyler, at the invitation of local residents. Some nine months in the making, it is due for completion by Christmas. The 150m2 interior, designed as a quarter-amphitheatre, has now been roofed over and grassing of roof and surrounding mound should begin this month. The telegraph poles will be slung with climbing ropes. The project has depended on a lot of scattered generosity: an eventual £15,000 from the Islington authority and about the same sum in private donations of capital gifts, cheap materials, money and labour. Lang, for instance, donated some £600-worth of labour. The Crumbles Castle is one element in a plan for a much larger adventure playground. The residents' association has acquired the land from the GLC on a seven-year lease and the castle has been designated by the planners as a 'perrnanent feature.' It could hardly be otherwise. Down on the land The coming six months promise to be a turning point in the life of one of the smallest professional bodies, the Institute of Landscape Architects. During the past three years an ad hoc committee has been exploring the possibilities of expanding the professional membership of 450 by broadening the basis of entry. At a special meeting held in September, the committee recommended that a new institute be created in which membership would be sub-divided into three parts: landscape architecture with landscape planning; landscape management; and landscape science. On the one hand, it opens up membership to horticulturists, soil scientists and other professionals who would not otherwise have qualified. But some professional members are angry that by implying to future trainees that they can get by without knowledge of soils, horticulture or site management, their profession will become debased. In addition, some of them feel that expansion through fragmentation is a contradiction. No decision has yet been taken but a referendum will be held amongst present members during the coming six months. Walk tall, brake badly We had better get used to driving in our socks. A study carried out by the University of Missouri has shown that platform shoes significantly impair car drivers' braking performance. The study was organised by Harold Warner and Kenneth Mace on the recommendation of the Keystone Automobile Club whose safety director had heard a number of women members remark that it was difficult to shift the foot from accelerator to brake in an emergency. The university found 17 female student volunteers to act as subjects. Their chief qualification was that they had owned and driven in platform shoes for at least two months. The university's Society of Automotive Engineers Club put together a laboratory simulator using components from a 1967 Ford Mustang and a back projection screen which was set in place of the windscreen. The subjects had two sessions in the simulator, one wearing shoes with 'normal' soles and heels (less than 13mm, and less than 51mm) and one in their platform shoes. During each of the forty minute sessions they had to respond to four 'emergency stop' signals at random intervals, the brake reaction time was measured. All 17 candidates took longer to stop when wearing platform soles. In terms of stopping distance, the increase was around 0.43m per 16km/h. So, at 112km/h (70mph) a driver in platform sole shoes will take approximately an extra 3.03m to stop. The University of Missouri had better read DESIGN 310/17 and stand by to run a test on drivers wearing stiletto heels. Figuring the landscape The 'Art into Landscape' show at the Serpentine Gallery in London was worth seeing but sadly disappointing. It attracted 400 proposals from artists, architects, housewives and children in response to a competition organised be the Arts Council, RIBA, Royal Institute of Landscape Architects and The Sunday Times. Sixty-five of these schemes were developed in more detail, and these were on show. Unfortunately there was a major lack of original ideas; many projects were a presentation of kinds of schemes already in existence, already done with more wit and beauty than those shown at the Serpentine Gallery. In most cases the more ambitious the fantasy of the Serpentine proposals, the more poverty-stricken was their application. On the whole, proposals from adults were mostly pretentious and factitious; those from the children were not. The simplest projects and the children's projects were the most rewarding. Josephine Pennington's structure, 'A Whale of a Time', and Susan Cox's 'A Car Park turned into a Playground' deserved the joint second prize. There was a predictable sprinkling of painted gasometers and sportsground walls, and night skies pierced by searchlights. The garden park in the shape of a naked women could have been fun if it had been done with greater panache; and 'The Quarry for the Future,' an actual ecological project now in progress in Wales run by the Society for Environmental Improvement, was potentially the most interesting. Even so, top honours must go to Graham Stock for his scheme for a double-spiral waterway on Mitcham Common; to Ian Boyd Whyte for noticing that there is an axis from All Saints in Blackheath to St Anne's, Limehouse, and for proposing that eight large balloons could be tethered to them and the other main laridmarks along the axis, including the Royal Hospital and to Christopher Dean for his two-panelled light night beams which change in intensity and colour relationships according to the time and the position or movement of the viewers (to be set up temporarily for celebration events). These schemes were simple, elegant, and free of that unusual 20th-century abhorrence of space as a vacuum that per se must be filled. It was fascinating to note that nobody recommended an agreeable space that, as a piece of art in itself, should not be cluttered with either art or artifacts. It was also fascinating to see just how many pleasant open spaces would be spoilt by the addition of fifth-rate 'art,' if some people got their way. The exhibition was therefore a valuable warning even if it failed to he a cornucopia of delights. Closely observed parks Successful design often depends as much on care for detail as it does on grand concepts. It is nice, therefore, to be able to record and applaud one of those tiny changes to the environment of central London which has cost nothing more than a modicum of thought but has resulted in considerable pleasure to those who have learned to use their eyes. We are referring to the repainting of those delightful looped-rod fences along the pathway St James's Park. The usual strident bluish green (the kind of green which supports the notion that you should never use green in the countryside) has been subtly swapped for a warm green which is entirely compatible with its surroundings. The effect is to allow the delicate tracery of the ironwork to speak for itself as an acceptable element in the parkscape instead of the visual irritation it was before. The new paint, incidentally, is a special mixture developed by DoE Royal Parks department architects. It will be difficult for other park authorities to copy, though they would do well to look, note and learn from this approach. Patent references Registered designs are often as important in the commercial world as patents. But anyone who has tried to find out what has previously been registered will know the problems. Only one index exists: the Design Registry at the Patent Office. A member of the public must first know the name of the designer or company; he can then inspect the numbered design for 15p. It is not possible to search through all the registrations in a given field to check whether a new design is already protected. The best they can do is to file a picture of the idea with a search form, pay £4 and w ait about a month. The answer to the designer's prayer may have arrived in the form of Watchdog, a listing of all designs as they come out, with a line drawing for each. Put together by Alan Talboys, a patent and trademark researcher, and Jim Pedder, a chartered patent agent, the publication costs £27 for an annual subscription (25 issues and a half-yearly index). In France, Germany and Japan, this service is carried out officially by the government. Talboys and Pedder are only too glad, however, for it to remain in private hands. The operation is quite simple: the fortnightly Patent Journal lists all the numbers of registered designs granted in the preceding period. These are checked against photocopies of the Design Registry. The partners then employ a freelance artist to draw the shape and/or configuration of the parts protected by a registered design. Subscriptions so far include Plessey, Thorn, Metal Box and Wilkinson Sword. Conscientious object To dispel any gloom lurking in the darker corners of the Institute of Marketing, the Institute's monthly journal Marketing has had its style and layout revamped to produce a brighter, more readable magazine. The first issue with the new treatment came out in September, a special issue on Consumerism. What could be more topical. The cover (a female shopper wearing boxing gloves) was designed by Bill Sanderson and articles included ones by Linda Christmas and Marie Jennings, and an interview with John Methuen, Director General of Fair Trading. The message seems to be that the consumer battle has been largely won by the consumerists, now it is up to manufacturers and retailers to work at helping the consumer to understand what they do and why they do it. Articles in the pipeline include public relations after Poulson, the travel industry after Court Line, opinion polls, and why good design can save money by James Pilditch. Perfect soft-top New materials for the car industry? This all-canvas body- of a homebuilt car was recently seen by John Hope in Bulgaria. He presents it as his candidate for Car of the Year. |
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