Cor, excellent, cheers for the heads-up, Bengali! I've found another article in Wired and it looks like you can download excerpts from the book here.
I've been thinking idly about this recently, but not enough to post anything helpful just yet. It was prompted by some comment I either heard or read somewhere that St Paul's Cathedral (I think) was initially dismissed by some critics for being "mere engineering, not architecture." Mere engineering! Interesting that Balmond has experienced the same thing:
"Remembering his education in Sri Lanka, he recalls that 'engineers were looked down on, which shocked me'. He tells the story of one of Britain's most famous engineers, Thomas Telford. 'He was in a coach which broke down. He got down, fixed the problem, and then wasn't allowed back inside, having got his hands dirty and revealed himself as an artisan. That summed it up for me.' "
(from the Observer article)
I'll try and think of something relevant to say, over the weekend... |
