34 C O N T E X T 1 2 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 2 Vox pop As his IHBC membership number – 1 – attests, Graham Arnold was the institute’s first member. He is now retired. Who has been your greatest inspiration? Alvar Aalto, the Finnish architect, was an inspiration to my generation. His buildings’ form, materials and integration with the landscape are still unparalleled. I travelled by train and bus around his home country in 1963 sketching many of his remote buildings. I lost five kilos in three weeks with nervous excitement and double-price food, and could do with going again for architectural stimulation and weight reduction. What has been your best idea? Delaying ratification of an objection to the Liverpool Diocese and Church Commission’s proposal to demolish Christ Church,Waterloo by Paley and Austin (II*) so that councillors were unable to have an internal site visit. Once they did it was too late to renege on the decision. After a non-statutory public inquiry and repairs funded by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the church was vested in the Churches Conservation Trust. It is now an active community facility and landmark to the neighbourhood with concerts, weddings and plays. I went to a summer fair recently and was confronted with more than 10 owls from a rescue sanctuary in the aisle. We blinked in mutual satisfaction. What would you like to have been if you had not become a conservationist? An architect (contextual), polar explorer or spy, but I settled on local government for the sheer excitement. How do you reply when at a party someone asks what you do? Nowadays, I prevaricate and mumble something about retirement and opening up views in Birkenhead Park by sawing limbs from over-mature trees in order to recreate the interlinked prospects that underlie Paxton’s design. What is the biggest frustration in your job? Not completing jobs around the house to my wife’s satisfaction. What would you like to be doing in five years’ time? Travelling around Europe’s cities and towns by train and folding bike. So much can be seen in a short time and the cultural diversity can feed the soul forever. I fear a return to the border and financial controls of yesteryear, so I should start now. What is your favourite building? Saynatsalo Town Hall (1952) by Alvar Aalto. Its very organic yet clear presence sits well within the Finnish Forest. The brick, vertical timber windows and informal landscaping fit within the tonal gloom of the surrounding woods. It is a multi-use building with shops on the perimeter of the ground floor. The formal and vernacular in poise has never been more beautifully expressed and it has been an inspiration for rural community buildings throughout Europe. Your favourite place? The Alhambra (Red Fortress) in Granada, the clear expression of a people hardened by the desert luxuriating in the power and play of water. The reflections of sunlight from fountain-disturbed pools move over its delicate, complex and cream-coloured stalactite vaults with easy languor. Meanwhile, in the informal gardens on the steep slopes which peel away from its rectilinear courtyards, the visitor, parched by the midday sun, is conscious of water gurgling, splashing and plunging in the undergrowth; unseen but tantalisingly heard. Glimpsed views of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range, from whence the waters originate, add to the thirst. Cool Moorish torture! Your favourite book? Rembrandt’s Eyes by Simon Schama. This is a most compelling study of social and art history, laced with the contrasts of Rubens in catholic Antwerp and Rembrandt in protestant Delft and Amsterdam. His power of language transports the reader into the bustle of the cities and their social hierarchies. It also provides sharp observation on Rembrandt’s unrivalled capacity to seize the quintessential moment in etchings and oil paintings. What do you do in your spare time? Reading, cycling, swimming, photography, voluntary landscape work in Paxton’s Birkenhead Park (the only Grade I public park in the country), lay assessor for the Register of Architects Accredited in Building conservation, the odd book review and some stargazing. What organisations are you a member of? IHBC, National Trust, English Heritage, Friends of the Royal Academy, Liverpool Astronomical Society, South Liverpool Energy Group. Which one issue would you particularly like the IHBC to campaign on? There is a need for sensitive design solutions for energy improvements to solid-wall housing around the country. The Green Deal could end up with a riot of Barry Bucknell solutions which may be the 21st century equivalent of Lord Beaverbrook’s removal of railings at the start of the second world war. It is likely to be far worse and more exposed, reducing Victorian parts of our towns and cities to deserts of DIY mediocrity. There is a challenge for regional solutions to be produced which, with design intelligence, could create a new vernacular in our terraced streets which we would be happy to hand on to our successors. Perhaps the IHBC and other environmental organisations could sponsor demonstration competitions to that end.
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