好色先生TV

The architects behind the 拢1.3bn Stratford Waterfront cultural quarter have come out fighting for the project after critics subjected it to a flurry of abuse.

Since the latest images were released last week, Ian Ritchie suggested the buildings were boring, the branded it 鈥渓amentably drab鈥� and Simon Jenkins in the called it 鈥渕useum-land meets Thamesmead鈥� a pastiche of 1960s brutalism鈥�.

But John Tuomey and Bob Allies shrugged off the attacks from the 鈥済rumpy old men鈥�, insisting that what will be built will be exceptional civic architecture.

Allies said: 鈥淭hese are strong but accommodating buildings that establish a real urban edge to the Olympic Park. They provide the community with an extraordinary new resource, and frame a sequence of dynamic public spaces overlooking the river. Each building has its own singular, identity but also, critically, forms part of a coherent group.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a shame the grumpy old men don鈥檛 like it, but it鈥檚 hardly designed for them.鈥�

It鈥檚 a shame the grumpy old men don鈥檛 like it, but it鈥檚 hardly designed for them

Bob Allies

Tuomey told 好色先生TV the criticism was surprising given that 鈥渢he whole world is full of badly constructed poorly planned and haphazard development and this project is being set apart by its sense of civic purpose. For that reason it鈥檚 an exemplar鈥�.

He praised the transparent way the project was procured, contrasting it with the 鈥渉istory of disappointment鈥� for architects, with so many competitions coming to nothing.

鈥淭his was a publicly run competition with a clear result where the client is committed to carrying out the project and fulfilling their architectural aspirations which are for the public good,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat architect wouldn鈥檛 think that was a good thing?

鈥淔or us to be working with Allies & Morrison and Arquitecturia on a project combining public space and civic architecture, it鈥檚 the job of a lifetime. In our minds it鈥檚 a very special project.鈥�

He said they were designing buildings that they expected to last well over a century.

鈥淚 am excited about what we have on our drawing boards at the moment,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are living it, building models, making drawings, making comparisons and going to see comparable institutions all around the world. We have a high ambition for the architecture, presence and significance of these buildings.

It鈥檚 the job of a lifetime. In our minds it鈥檚 a very special project

John Tuomey

鈥淲e are always looking for a radical archaic: something that if you imagine yourself standing in the future looking back you would judge it as having been the right thing to do at the time.鈥�

O鈥橠onnell & Tuomey 鈥� which won the RIBA Gold Medal last year 鈥� is responsible for the V&A East and Sadler鈥檚 Wells. Tuomey predicted the two buildings鈥� foyers would spill into the space in between, becoming as well used as the foyers on the South Bank.

Allies & Morrison is masterplanner and designer of the two residential towers, the London College of Fashion and the ex-Smithsonian, while YAYA winner Arquitecturia is designing a bridge over Carpenters Road.