Star architect Graham Stirk does not suffer critics gladly — even when their objections to innovative buildings are based on fear for their physical safety.
Interviewed in this week’s Where London magazine, Stirk is asked about his experiences of “buildings going wrong”. “I don’t enjoy hearing things like the Walkie Talkie caused burning by reflecting the sun. I wouldn’t have thought that would happen. It seems logical now but with hindsight anything is logical. They are prototypes: it’s like flying the first Concorde. Everyone forgets that the medieval cathedrals kept collapsing for centuries.”
Speaking of structural problems, he adds: “It’s interesting when you see the Millennium Bridge [which wobbled when it opened], and people said, ‘God, you think they’d have learned to do these things by now’. I think, ‘Why don’t you have a go?’” adds Stirk.
Any amateur architects, please send us your bridge designs on a postcard.
