Boris Johnson Quote

The new conservative mayor of London, tapping into a sentiment against modern ugly towers. He knows that most people prefer to live in neighborhoods of brick townhouses:

...promised to protect London's traditional and historic buildings and streets from bulldozers and skyscrapers.

Mr Johnson said he would assure Londoners that "their gardens, their views, their neighbourhoods are not going to be dwarfed by high rise blocks or engulfed in a sea of identikit homes.

"What the average Londoner wants is a house with a garden and a front door.

But when I look at some of the plans for the 27 phallocratic towers that Ken wants to erect in the suburbs, I wonder whether we have learned anything from the experience of the last 50 years.

"We seem to be in the grip of barbarians who are determined to knock down venerable buildings - Victorian police stations and swimming baths - and put drab blocks in their place.

"You can have more houses without wrecking the garden city of London."

Hayes Porter School

As I write this post, the CPS levy is passing 51 to 49%. I am thankful that this passed so that our son can continue to have Art and Music teachers. I have had nothing but positive experiences with my child in the Cincinnati Public School system. The thing that matters most, the teachers, have exceeded my expectations on all levels.

However, something is wrong at CPS. I am not knowledgeable about the details enough to say what exactly is wrong, but they cannot seem to build a decent building. As a prime example look at the new Hayes Porter in the West End.

Debacle. That is the only way to describe this 12 million dollar conglomeration of bricks, aluminum glazing systems, vents and downspouts.

There is a commenter on this site who has mentioned this school once or twice. I had seen it under construction, and knew it was pretty ugly, but I had never really paid much attention to it. Saturday we walked a different way than usual to the Museum Center, and we passed this building. It is disgusting.

The drudgery of the the design committee is clearly exemplified in the final product.

The backside, was the first part I saw. It kinda looked like a jail or a warehouse from this approach.

Corner windows and corner vents are an important design feature:

 

How could anyone look at this during the design process and say, "yeah, thats what we want for our kids, banal boxes with minimal windows". They didn't. No one thought about this project from a student or a neighborhood perspective. Heck, from what I can tell, no one thought about this project at all.

Parking lot entry, south elevation:

 

Grand front Entry:

 

Right half of building, front elevation. Notice the historic church next door, and the three downspouts as the primary design feature:

 

From corner, across the street:

 

The old building :

Hays-Porter is located on an eight-acre site with very little greenspace, in the center of an urban environment. The property is partially fenced for security. Access onto the site is somewhat restricted due to roads on three sides of the building. Site circulation is somewhat congestion but is controlled by signals. There is no designated space for school buses to load and unload on the site. Most of the site is paved asphalt, and no playground equipment is provided.

The old building being demolished:

 

The architect's website.

The people responsible.