Structure, Space and Skin The Work of Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners Edited by Rowan Moore, introduction by Kenneth Powell
Reviewed by Lester Paul Korzilius
Published in Oculus, December 1994
The first major book available in the U.S. on this up-and-coming British architect. This book covers the more recent projects, from 1988 onward. Grimshaw's penchant for structure and kit-of-parts approach is clearly demonstrated in this well laid-out book. His most well known recent projects, including the Western Morning News, the British Expo '92 Pavilion at Seville, and the railway terminal at London's Waterloo Station are well documented with drawings, high quality photographs, concept sketches and detail drawings. A treat for American architects is the coverage of the North London Pumping Station, a structurally bold scheme for Terminal Five at London's Heathrow airport (now being designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership), and the anthropomorphic project for the Berlin Stock Exchange. Grimshaw's use of custom steel castings is also well presented and offers the american practitioner an insight into a technology that is rarely used on buildings in this country. My only complaint is that Grimshaw's earlier work, notably the Financial Times Print Works, is not included. Fortunately this building is the subject of a separate excellent monograph.
|