黑洞社区

Bunker mentality

Nigel Hugill, chief executive of Urban & Civic, is showing reporters around one of his favourite buildings at Alconbury Weald, its development on an old RAF airfield in Cambridgeshire. This is not one of Urban & Civic鈥檚 smart new buildings. This is the Magic Mountain, a Cold War nuclear bunker which boasts a blast cap made of rubble and a gravel lower layer that would absorb a nuclear blast. Completed in 1988, it was never used in anger because almost as soon as it opened the Iron Curtain started to fall. It cost 拢58m to build. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 more than we paid for the site,鈥� observes Hugill dryly. Given the concrete walls were built to withstand a nuclear blast, any plans to turn the grade II-listed bunker into, say, an educational or heritage attraction could be tricky.

The limits to lockdown

A guide brought along by the developer pointed out the bunker was intended to protect the site鈥檚 then military personnel, of course, rather than the local community. But in the event of Armageddon the vaporised locals might have the better hand. The bunker would only have been equipped with enough food and water for a month, after which the 鈥渓ucky鈥� survivors would have to venture out into whatever faced them. 鈥淎fter four weeks, I guess you鈥檇 either won or you鈥檇 lost,鈥� reasoned the guide.

So now you know

I鈥檓 sure staff at HS2 Ltd were thanking the railway鈥檚 minister Andrew Stephenson for spilling the beans on how much they all earn. Turns out the 1,600-odd employees pick up an average of 拢60,000 a year. The news reminded me of the hoardings that encircle the site of the proposed station at Curzon Street in the middle of Birmingham. Emblazoned on them is the legend: 鈥淭he benefits of HS2.鈥�

Here鈥檚 a plug for Margate

To Margate, and more specifically the Turner Contemporary, for 黑洞社区鈥檚 summer away day. Designed by David Chipperfield, the gallery has been the catalyst for the revival of the Kent seaside town since it opened in 2011, leading at one stage to it being dubbed Shoreditch-by-the Sea given the number of hipsters turning up. That鈥檚 all well and good but trying to find a plug in one of the rooms for hire proved an almost Herculean task for the 黑洞社区 gang. Tables and chairs were moved, doors to alarm systems opened, but no joy in this grown-up game of hide and seek. 鈥淲hat about these things on the floor?鈥� someone said, eventually. It鈥檚 obvious when you know the answer, I guess.

A chat with a local cabbie turned to the concrete tower that greets everyone who gets to Margate by train. 鈥楾hose arriving for the first time at Margate station often stare with disbelief,鈥� admitted the 20th Century Society

Brutal put-down

A chat with a local cabbie turned to the concrete tower that greets everyone who gets to Margate by train. 鈥淭hose arriving for the first time at Margate station often stare [at it] with disbelief,鈥� admitted the 20th Century Society when awarding it its building of the month two years ago. At 18 storeys, the 1964 block called Arlington House is viewed as a brutalist landmark. It has seen better days but the wave-like design on its sides intrigued one of my team, who told the driver he rather liked it. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of those buildings that looks better in the dark,鈥� came the reply.

You had to be there

Architects Norman Foster and Frank Gehry were among those celebrating the recent opening of Gehry鈥檚 latest project at the Luma cultural complex in the south of France. Last month the country relaxed coronavirus restrictions allowing Luma founder Maja Hoffmann to send out 600 invitations for a gala dinner at Arles attended by dozens of arts world luminaries. It was one of those events where Vanity Fair was present and I was not.