I gave a quick review of the debate last night. Its taken a little while to get the quotes for this blog, and I hope it’s worthwhile.

First of all, a bit of further evaluation. The debate had a high turnout last night. In fact In five years at Nottingham, I don’t think I’ve been at such a well-attended evening lecture. As I said previously both Dean Hawkes and Ted Cullinan gave very eloquent talks. Between that we can look at the past to offer solutions to energy conservation. Both men packed their talks full of great examples. For me these talks were not only informative, but stand in opposition to the often technical discussions of zero-carbon technology.

Having said this, these talks were billed as a debate, which was clearly not the case. As Ted Cullinan told us before the event, both men were simply splitting hairs. Also I think that the arguments that both Dean and Ted put forward were slightly confused. Dean Hawkes effectively argued for some level of traditionalism, whereas Ted Cullinan essentially argued against conservatism. This lack of debate seemed to seep into the rest of the evening. Like the two speakers, most of these comments seemed to be in agreement, and there was an element of backslapping. All of the comments from the audience were from members of staff, despite the fact that there was a decent turnout across all years in the school, which I think was really a lost opportunity.

Ted Cullinan
‘In our incredibly conservative country it is essential that architects take up a radical position!’

‘We claim to be leaders in green energy . . . . but quietly and wilfully prevent it from happening.’

On the Villa Savoye the Farnsworth House ‘As we talk about becoming ecololigical, they become less and less possible.’

‘We should invent as hard as we know how and work like billy-o!’

Dean Hawkes

‘I’m endlessly looking at buildings I love on Google Earth, because Google earth has north on it.’

‘I discovered . . that in every house, bar one le corbs. designed there is a fireplace!’

‘Le Corbusier actually said we will build one house for all climates, but he never practised that.’