The bold and the beautiful

Architectural Review, The, Dec, 2004 by Karen Robinson

SIR: Gleneagles Community Centre (AR October, p67) is aesthetically very pleasing and appears to camouflage itself very nicely with the surrounding environment, not that I know anything about these things as I am only a lowly office manager.

What I do know about is sport, having been involved in it for forty years, up to quite recently I was a county standard badminton player. It is with utter frustration that I see such sports buildings hailed a success when clearly, from a sporting point of view, they cannot be. How are you supposed to see a shuttlecock with all that glass, natural light, and how can you concentrate with all the distractions (the bar area) overlooking the courts through more glass! The article mentions the sweeping roof creating overhangs to prevent glare, but the photograph clearly shows sunlight on the courts!

I work for an architectural practice that has carried out similar work, if not in a more simplistic form, and while I quite rightly have never had any input into design, I always remind our architects to ensure walls are painted a suitable colour, and that lighting is positioned to allow for good vision.

So while the bold and the beautiful may make good reading, functionality with style is surely more of a success story.

Yours etc

KAREN ROBINSON

Manchester, England