The £ 4.65m six-story apartment building built in 2016 in London's prestigious historic district of Islington is about to be demolished. According to the district council, the final object is very different from what the architect Amin Taha originally stated in his project, and does not at all fit with the Victorian buildings around. Dissatisfaction with the appearance of the building was expressed by officials, activists, and residents of neighboring houses. The architect of the project (at some point he also took over the functions of the developer) himself lives in one of the apartments; here, at number 15 Clerkenwell Close, is the office of his own bureau. Amin Taha intends to appeal the demolition.
The ambiguity of the building is evidenced by its presence in the lists of completely polar architectural awards. On the one hand, Tahi's creation this year
received a National Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and was shortlisted for the Dezeen Awards. On the other hand, the same house, one of the readers of Building Design magazine, mainly architects and representatives of related professions, nominated the Carbuncle Cup for the architectural anti-award of this publication; however, it is worth noting that anyone can nominate any antipathetic building, so this still does not mean mass dislike.
The first demolition warrant was issued in June 2017, following confusion over Islington Council not uploading all planning documents to the online portal. In particular, later changes regarding the height of the building and the design of the facade did not get to the site - and approved by the Council, according to Amin Taha. In this latest version, the architect replaced the brick façade with "raw" limestone cladding and opened up the entire structure of the building. Complaints from neighbors started pouring in after the scaffolding was removed: local residents saw something quite different from what they expected to see after publishing on the Internet.
The demand for demolition was dropped when the architect's lawyer sent a letter to law enforcement asking for a report on the committee that approved the document.
A second order with the same requirement followed in February 2018. According to Taha, only "to justify the initial incompetence." The text of the new document noted that the placement of such panels is ill-considered, and that it has a detrimental effect on the historical environment.
The architect claims that the decision is largely due to the personal hostility of some members of the district council to his building. In particular, the chairman of the city planning committee, architect Martin Klute (Martin Klute) called it "terrible". Ann Pembroke of the local urban protection movement said she "fully supports the demolition" and stressed that the building does not fit in with its historical context and "stands out like an eyesore."
Amin Taha intends to find a constructive solution in dialogue with the authorities. Otherwise, dismantling will cost him millions and bankrupt. Prose history, which began six years ago, has developed dramatically (in the most theatrical sense of the word). Leaving the legal details outside the brackets, the situation can be reduced to a well-known scheme: the conservative majority (represented by officials and residents of London) would like to “leave everything as it is”, some conditionally elite minority (which can include the professional architectural community) suggests “expanding horizons” … The parties are in conflict and the place of battle this time was the house on Clerkenwell Close; but this is not quite a local story - it is easy to imagine (remember?) such a confrontation somewhere in Russia. Most likely, those who can crush the enemy in numbers will win. Or those who have leverage at hand.
