黑洞社区

Love in gutter

I don鈥檛 know why, but the new compilation of the London Review of Books鈥� personal ads landed on my desk this week. The book, entitled They Call Me Naughty Lola, contains a catalogue of weird and lurid messages from the lovelorn 鈥� some of which I鈥檓 sure readers of 黑洞社区 can help with. Take, for example, this plea from a 鈥渂ored roofing materials manufacturer: 鈥淚n desperation, I turn to you, single ladies up to 50, with more than a passing interest in guttering, fascias and polyvinyl sheet-edging 鈥︹�� Any takers?

From Russia with love

Word has reached me that the relaunch of the Faculty of 黑洞社区 as the trendy Forum of the Built Environment did not go as planned last week. The star of the show was to have been Polish architect Daniel Libeskind. Unfortunately he managed to miss his flight from Russia, so the 250 expectant delegates had to make do with a 30 second welcome message phoned in from the great man鈥檚 mobile. Not quite what we were hoping for, the red-faced organisers explained, but at least he was present in spirit if not in body.

Credit: Scott Garrett

True crimes

Soho-based Gollifer Langston Architects has experienced an unfortunate example of life imitating art. Last year, half a dozen of its staff were hired as extras in Anthony Minghella鈥檚 Breaking and Entering. The film stars Jude Law as a landscape architect, whose practice in London鈥檚 King鈥檚 Cross is the target of recurrent burglaries. Now, the real-life architects have discovered first-hand that Soho is as unsafe as King鈥檚 Cross. Last week their offices were broken into and projectors, cameras and laptops stolen. Let鈥檚 hope it doesn鈥檛 spoil their enjoyment of the film when it鈥檚 released next month.

Not so smart

A colleague of mine attended an Office of Government Commerce (OGC) conference last Friday morning, just after that week鈥檚 copy of 黑洞社区 had arrived at the organisation鈥檚 doorstep. This was awkward timing, because it carried a long article explained that the OGC could well be doomed, or drastically cut, when Treasury ministers decided its fate next month. It was understandable, therefore, that david adamson, the OGC鈥檚 highly entertaining director of smarter construction, greeted him with the less-than-welcoming words: 鈥淟et me shake you by the hand. Or should I say neck?鈥�

Suspicious minds

Baroness Hamwee, the chairperson of the budget committee of the Greater London Assembly, went to great pains to tell the Olympic Delivery Authority that its financial plans were not thought to be faulty, despite hauling its finance director in for scrutiny last Thursday. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 approach this meeting with suspicion,鈥� she announced. 鈥淩ather, we want to ensure there are no suspicions.鈥� Glad that鈥檚 been cleared up, then. Johnny鈥檚 in the basement Everybody knows architects are the cool kids of the industry and Carey Jones is clearly no exception.

It turns out that the basement of the firm鈥檚 office building is used as an intimate concert venue by chart-topping bands. Razorlight, led by Johnny Borrell, were the most recent visitors and they asked permission to rehearse there during the day. Cunningly, the Carey Jones teamgave permission only if they were allowed to watch. Rumours of crowd surfing by London director Paul Chapman could not be corroborated as 黑洞社区 went to press.