View.VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE SIR: I was surprised to find that I subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day" subscribe, take buy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; a magazine that covers not only the world of Architecture but is also used as a platform for architects to express their political views. The letter View from Ramallah (AR May) by Tom Kay, which is actually a four-page article, has got absolutely nothing to do with Architecture or Urbanism. If the editor truly believes that photos of broken windows teach us anything about architecture and that 'The birds have been ignoring the noise ... is a sentence describing a spatial condition he should at least be professional enough to show photos of carnage in Tel Aviv Tel Aviv (tĕl əvēv`), city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial, financial, communications, and cultural center and the core of its largest and record the birds reaction to the sound of a bomb detonating det·o·nate intr. & tr.v. det·o·nat·ed, det·o·nat·ing, det·o·nates To explode or cause to explode. [Latin d in a Jerusalem Pizzeria. The fact that Mr Kay is a Jew is your only excuse and justification to publish such a letter. Would you publish it if a Muslim wrote it? Unfortunately, like in other English media Groups (BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. and The Guardian newspaper for example) the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
If Tom Kay (the 'Jewish Architect') went all the way to Ramallah, he should have made the effort to examine Palestinian Architecture, which is interesting indeed. Unfortunately he was too busy being the conscience of the world. Lately we hear how millions of dollars of aid from the US and European countries are being used to finance terror attacks, weapons and explosives. The day when Palestinian leaders will invest this money in new buildings (housing, hospitals or maybe even a new architecture school) will be a day to celebrate and certainly a good subject for an article. If you do want to write about contemporary Palestinian architecture, why not show how corrupt Palestinian leaders live in grand, luxurious villas, while their own people in the West Bank live in inhuman conditions Inhuman Conditions is the second and final demo by by American death metal band Injustice, before their breakup. Various elements present on the demo including acoustic and atmospheric breaks help to establish the demo as "ahead of it's time". ? As for Tom and Adah Kay; if you happen to pass through or visit Israel please beware; suicide bombers blow themselves up in coffee shops, clubs, in wedding ceremonies, in schools and kindergartens. From what I have heard they don't ask insightful people, with such high morals like you, to leave the place before they pull the trigger in the name of Allah. Yours etc OSHRI YANIV London, England ROLE OF ARCHITECTURAL MAGAZINES SIR: I do not remember you ever publishing articles about the behaviour of the British army The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with unification of the governments and armed forces of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland: see Ireland, Northern. Northern Ireland Part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland occupying the northeastern portion of the island of Ireland. Area: 5,461 sq mi (14,144 sq km). Population (2001): 1,685,267. during the Troubles. There too, innocent people were killed, buildings were destroyed and vandalized, curfews imposed, and the whole apparatus of state force was unleashed to try to achieve peace. I am sure that, rightly, you did not consider it the role of an architectural magazine to comment on such matters. So it seems very strange and biased that, whatever your personal beliefs, you should have published the 'View from Ramallah' in the May issue. Leave such matters to the newspapers -- who in any case produce the facts much faster than you can in a monthly. Yours etc BEN COHEN Ben Cohen may refer to:
New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , USA APPROPRIATE IN THE AR SIR: The Review dropped onto the doormat during breakfast this morning. I took it with me to London and read Tom Kay's piece on the train coming back. It's a profoundly depressing but extraordinary account. It may appear slightly strange to read such matters in the AR but, as far as this reader is concerned, it's entirely appropriate: an architect's account of the seemingly wanton Grossly careless or negligent; reckless; malicious. The term wanton implies a reckless disregard for the consequences of one's behavior. A wanton act is one done in heedless disregard for the life, limbs, health, safety, reputation, or property rights of destruction of a people's habitat. Kay's prose may be calm -- but, my God, it's telling. Yours etc PETER CAROLIN Emeritus Professor of Architecture, Cambridge University, England CULTURAL COLONIZATION? SIR: Anthony Hunt expresses both admiration and disrespect for Peter Rice when he describes Rice as 'the greatest British engineer of the twentieth century'. Next AR will be telling us that Eileen Gray, Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw were really English. Poppycock pop·py·cock n. Senseless talk; nonsense. [Dutch dialectal pappekak : pap, pap (from Middle Dutch pappe, perhaps from Latin pappa, food) + kak, . Rice was the greatest Irish engineer of the twentieth century. Rice was born in Ireland where he received his education before going on to study engineering at the excellent Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rest you know. He worked for Ove Arup in London, collaborating on projects with a host of nationalities in almost every continent in the world. This does not make him Norwegian, Polish, Indonesian nor any other nationality that comes to mind. It is a tribute to the cultural confidence of the French that Joyce, Beckett, Stravinsky and Picasso could all work in Paris without having their identities hijacked by France. Sadly, the insecure British have made a habit of plundering the achievements of others as their own. Is mise le meas RICHARD HURLEY BBS (1) (Bulletin Board System) A computer system used as an information source and forum for a particular interest group. They were widely used in the U.S. Architects, New York, USA |
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