Wallace's blog: The Cathedral. Dismantle it and bring in Renzo
Just a quick thought for a Monday. The Cathedral. Here's today's exercise for you. One you will not regret. Do a search on images of the Coventry Cathedral. The beautiful irreplaceable medieval parish cathedral was bombed by the Luftwaffe on November 14 1940. The decision was made to rebuild it the day after. The interiors especially, are stunning.
But what has happened to Coventry Cathedral has a message for New Zealanders. Don't just cling to the past in your buildings. A daring new work for the 20th century was commissioned, and Basil Spence was designated architectural visionary for this mammoth reconstruction. He married remnants of the 14th C Cathedral into what one might call a semi-brutalist new structure, with the new building being consecrated in 1962. Spence insisted that the old cathedral not be rebuilt, but ruins be incorporated into the design as a 'garden of remembrance.'
Take a look. It is of its time - those harsh early 1960's outlines, juxtaposing against the medieval ruins. But the public took to it. In fact, in the late 1990's the new Cathedral was voted the most popular construction of the century, outvoting the Millennium Dome, Liverpool Cathedral and the Tate Gallery. It was designed to last 1,000 years and it probably will. It has never lost its allure among UK citizens, many who say it has become an even better building.
Basil Spence was knighted for his work on the Cathedral. He also designed a building closer to home - The Beehive, seen every evening as I walk to and from the Backbencher every Wednesday.
So let's rebuild the Christchurch Cathedral and go as daring as
we dare to go. For that I suggest we bring in an international star
architect. I nominate a guy called Renzo Piano - famous for the
Centre Georges Pompidou built in Paris in 1977, the breathtaking
Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center New Caledonia and now the Shard
in London. Keep aspects of the old, like Coventry did, but let's
leap light years ahead and do something spectacular - so
spectacular that people will travel to Christchurch just to see it.
Give Renzo a call. Not the folk who designed Te Papa.
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