The world's greatest living architect
'It means somebody loves you and that's nice. I wouldn't have thought the Brits would have anointed me, ever. I don't fit into their thing.'
Frank Gehry commenting on being awarded the RIBA Gold Medal within the Evening Standard, 16 June 2000
Hold on! London is swinging again
'Others said the whole flap reflected contemporary Britons' love-hate relationship with modern technology. Britain considers itself a technically skilled state-of-the-art society, but worries like crazy about the implications. Britons have embraced the cellular phone. Yet the media are full of scare stories....in the same way, the country was wild about the Millennium Bridge and the daring new technology it employed. But once the bridge did what it was designed to do, the doubts came out.'
Herald Tribune, 13 June 2000
'This is what my building is for...'
‘Architecture is not just a fellow traveller of change, but a fundamental participant, giving that change a direction and significance.
It represents all the dimensions of what I believe to be the true tradition of architecture: the relationship between history and space, between memory and the future, between tradition and continuity, between the obvious and the ineffable.’
Daniel Libeskind talking about the design of ‘The Spiral’ for the V&A, Evening Standard, Friday 26 May 2000
‘Design Champion’ to raise standards
‘Every government department should appoint a 'design champion' as part of a five-point plan by a new cabinet group committed to raising design standards in public buildings...'
As reported in Building Design, Tuesday 26 May 2000.
It's high time that Battersea was turned into a powerhouse of design
‘Design in all its guises really is the ‘art of the 21st century’ and we all need to understand how it can benefit our lives.'
Terence Conran, Chairman, Conran Holdings Ltd, writing within The Times, Wednesday 17 May 2000
May the best marque win
'From what I've heard and talking to them, all the candidates profess the importance of the environment of London and encouraging innovative thinking, which we obviously support. London already has a strong reputation for design. A good administration can enhance it, but it is not dependent on it.'
Andrew Summers commenting on the London Mayoral candidates within Design Week, Friday 7 April 2000.
Stephen Bayley writes in Blueprint
'There isn't really such a thing as "design," at least, not in any philosophically rigorous sense.'
Stephen Bayley, writing in Blueprint, March 2000
MPs prepare to take residence in their new £200m building at Westminster
'So the big question now is: having achieved design of such quality for themselves, what will MPs do to secure it for the rest of us?'
Marcus Binney, architecture correspondent, makes this timely remark in The Times, Tuesday 21 March 2000, as MPs prepare to discuss the Budget shortly before their move.
Bauhaus Exhibition at the Design Museum
They shaped our world. They believed design could improve the way people lived their lives. It has not always worked out like that, but if there is one lesson the bauhaus has to teach, it is that design is not ephemeral. Design matters.'
Robert S Silver reviewing the Design Museum's bauhaus exhibition, Right Angle magazine, March/April 2000.
A Mirror on Life
"My argument for design is that it is a reflection of who we are and not what we will become, a better quality of design thus reflects the possibility of a better future."
Michael Frye, Chief Executive, B Elliott plc, speaking at the launch of the Design Council's Design in Business Week '98.
Budgeting for Design
"Economic success in the knowledge-based economy of the future depends upon us doing more to encourage innovation. Creating a culture that favours enterprise for all. Building the knowledge and skills base of the economy. Fostering the digital computer revolution and engaging constructively with Europe. And in building for our future, we build from the great British strengths; the British genius - our belief in work, enterprise and fair play, our creativity and willingness to adapt and to take an outward looking approach to the world."
Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking at the CBI Annual Dinner, 18 May 1999.
DKUK?
"I have always felt that the British are encouraged to flourish in their creative thinking and consequently 90% of my staff are from the UK."
Donna Karan, fashion designer, quoted in press release for 'New Designers' exhibition, July 1999.
From the Heart
"Our success depends on how well we exploit our most valuable assets: our knowledge, skills, and creativity. These are the key to designing high-value goods and services and advanced business practices. They are at the heart of a modern, knowledge driven economy."
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, from the Foreword to the Competitiveness White Paper, December 1998.
Get Global
"All these products, produced within the last five years of this millennium, show how Britain is preparing for the new millennium, in an exceptionally creative and innovative way... These products vary. Some have earned millions of pounds for UK companies, others provide solutions to world problems like land mines. It is a truly varied list which reflects the talent and innovation in Britain."
Rt Hon Stephen Byers MP, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, announcing 201 new Millennium Products, 19 April 1999.
A Winner's Circle
"Stability is the essential foundation but it is only the foundation. We must build on that foundation a modern knowledge based economy. Britain must make a quantum leap in skills, innovation, competition, information technology and small business...Britain now has one of the best incentives for innovation anywhere in the industrialised world...and I want a winner's circle of innovation - inventions in Britain, that are then developed in Britain and manufactured in Britain, creating growth and jobs in Britain."
Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Budget Speech 9 March 1999.
No Risky Business?
"Risk is the mobilising dynamic of a society bent on change, that wants to determine its own future rather than leaving it to religion, tradition or the vagaries of nature...The trading and offloading of risk isn't just a casual feature of a capitalist economy. Capitalism is actually unthinkable and unworkable without it."
Professor Anthony Giddens, Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science, delivering the Reith Lecture in Hong Kong on 'The Nature of Risk', April 1999.
Community Service
"Business organisations have to think of themselves as communities, for their own sake and for the sake of all who work for them. Because the better businesses are already heading this way, I have little doubt that community-thinking will lead to improved results as well as to a more decent capitalism. Money-machines motivate only the few insiders who get most of the money. Great businesses have a purpose beyond their own survival."
"The New Language of Business", Charles Handy, in 'Director' magazine, February 1999.
Information Management?
"As this century comes to an end, the defining characteristic of the current wave of technology is the role of information....The newer technologies have widened the potential for economic well-being. Governments should seek to foster that potential."
Alan Greenspan on US high-tech industry at the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, June 14, 1999.
New School Terms?
"...a serene, happily daylit place. It is one of the few successful recent attempts to reinvent the form of the school. Both overtly modern and subtly understated, its triangular plan is not just a geometrical game for its own sake, but a highly intelligent way to get all the differently sized spaces demanded by a modern school into a very efficient package...the school is too good to be ignored."
Hugh Pearman in the Sunday Times, 7 November 1999, describing the Notley Green sustainable school - the result of a competition organised by the Design Council and Essex County Council.
No Crime to Design
"We are working with the DTI and design bodies to encourage companies to think through the crime-resistance of their designs and systems before launching them on to the market. Too often at the moment design improvements are only made after a crime wave has occurred... A major research project in conjunction with the Design Council is underway to access the extent to which industry, designers and others are aware of the issues of crime resistance of the products they produce and the extent to which they take account of such considerations from the outset. The project will also attempt to identify strategies for increasing the contribution of design to crime reduction."
Rt. Hon Jack Straw MP speaking at the CBI National Conference in Birmingham, Monday 1 November 1999.
Confidence is King
"We may be a small country on the periphery of Europe, not unduly blessed with land or natural resources, but in the information society, that no longer matters. What matters is brains and creativity. We still have those in abundance. What we need is the self confidence to put them to good use - to turn bright ideas into commercial success."
Sir Iain Vallance, President of CBI and chairman of BT speaking at CBI National Conference, Monday 1 November 1999.
Real Jobs: Real Benefits
"Culture and our creative industries play a major and growing part in all our lives. They generate real jobs and real economic benefits in local areas. They enhance the quality of our lives and help us to enjoy our leisure time. They improve our knowledge and awareness of our environment."
Chris Smith announcing the appointment of 'regional champions' for culture and creative industries, 8 october 1999.
Shifting Sands?
"People have a right to an attractive townscape, so that they do not feel they are crossing an urban desert whenever they set foot outside their front door. This is the core of urban design: the creation of good public spaces (particularly green space), the management of traffic, effective lighting, proper encouragement for pedestrians and reliable public transport for longer distances."
Rt Hon Stephen Byers MP, 1999 Design Business Association directory.
Innovation.uk
"History is littered with examples of great British ideas which were turned into hugely profitable businesses by other countries. NESTA will help talented people develop their full potential, create successful businesses and jobs, and improve public awareness of and interest in science, technology, and the arts. The Government wants to help people to turn bright ideas into reality, and we will all profit as a result."
Culture Secretary Chris Smith unveils new 'national fund for talent' to help young inventors turn bright ideas into businesses, 30 June 1999.
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