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In Regency England, it was the chandelier that ‘dazzled and
puzzled’. Circa 1812, at the Prince Regent’s residence
Carlton House, such chandeliers formed the grand visual climax to
the circular drawing room, as Sacheverell Sitwell enthused:
‘…the cut glass chandelier, of immense length, representing
the jetd’eau of a fountain and playing from the centre of
the room up to the painted sky, reflected in the four pier glasses
opposite, which repeat each other, and the lesser chandeliers,
in endless repetition. The chandelier, we may remark, was an article
of furniture dear to the Prince Regent, and characteristic of
him.’ (British Architects and Craftsmen, 1945, p176)
Similarly, the Brighton pavilion was recorded in meticulous drawings
by the elder Pugin, who found the chandeliers ‘beyond comprehension’.
Webster’s Dictionary (1815) then described ecstasy as:
‘Any passion by which the thoughts are absorbed, and in
which the mind is for a time lost; excessive joy; rapture; enthusiasm;
excessive elevation of the mind; madness; distraction.’
This was of course the age of Nash, and the end of Soane, and with
peace after Waterloo came dislocation and national exhaustion, as
well as regeneration, a new elegance and stylism. There followed
a year ‘without summer’ when crops were ruined, Frankenstein
invented, and a frantic search for new stimuli was on. Similarly,
in the momentous decade since l987, and after, with the ending of
the Cold War, then the Gulf War, and lesser civil wars the way has
become clear in 2001 to focus on currency wars, drug wars, and style
wars. Ecstatic spaces were on offer.
Nicholas Grimshaw’s proposals for the world famous spa at
Bath (l998) had something of the quality of a vast Regency chandelier;
here glass, light, steam, and water are correlated brilliantly in
a last ditch attempt to revitalise the ancient baths. Future spa
fans will be enthralled by a dramatic wall of steam drawing them
towards the new treatment zones, Jacuzzis, and swimming pools.
Alsop and Stomer’s recently premiated (Stirling Prize) Peckham
library allows a similar infusion of light with colour to dramatic
effect; as with their Erotic Museum in Hamburg, ecstasy is orchestrated
deliberately (physical at Hamburg, cerebral at Peckham) with this
architect as sorcerer and spellbinder. Here again, a somewhat seedy
environment in decline is regenerated by a suffusion of wit and
colour, with all of the resourcefulness a structure can display
to contrive that ultimate moment of ecstatic fulfilment.
Ecstasy was encapsulated, as simulated in David Hockney’s
l960s masterpiece, ‘A Bigger Splash’ in Hudson Featherstone
Architects’ Swimming Pool (l998) for a house in North Devon.
There, the light ripples across the pool and behind a tamarisk hedge
protected by a flesh-coloured end-wall. This supports a chandelier-like
fountain amidst Corbusian detailing that conveys an ironic semblance
of parody. Hodder Associates are awarded here for their equally
outstanding Walsall Swimming Pool (RIBA Award 2001).
In contrast, Damien Hirst’s l991 installation ‘In and
Out of Love’ demonstrated where ecstasy — or horror —
ends, and the sublime begins. The happily wafted butterflies in
the upper room of the installation (the ‘in-love’ space)
were in stark contrast to his downstairs ‘out of love’
space, which emphasised haphazard, accidentally or deliberately
dead insects.
Michael Hopkins and Partners Organic Earth Centre, Edinburgh (Award
2001) notably combine to simulate the beauty and pathos of the natural
environment, as on a more botanical note does Nicholas Grimshaw’s
Eden Project at St Austell, Cornwall (Award 2001). Wilkinson Eyres’
Magna Centre at Rotherham (Award 2001) likewise stimulates wonderment
in the visitor’s eye. MacCormac Jamieson Prichard, at the Science
Museum’s Wellcome Wing, (ably guided by Curator Andrew Nahum)
also projects that sense of amazement (Award 2001). At Bristol,
Wilkinson Eyre creates a visitor centre (Explore Bristol) that initiates
literally a voyage of discovery for tourists (Award 2001).
There were in all fifty-four awards in the Royal Institute of British
Architects’ 2001 pursuit of excellence, to buildings representing
numerous requirements and types. What is increasingly evident, is
this new propensity by British architects to seek out ‘ecstasy’
in the pursuit of delight. Clearly, this is also what the public
wants; long may it last. Ecstasy in architecture can in fact be
described as an experiential climacteric in space — expanding
to reach out in the 21st century; sensual, hedonistic, pleasurable,
as well as subliminal, cerebral, and life-enhancing.
The projects that will come forward for consideration for RIBA
Awards in 2002 look equally exciting. It seems as if the long night
of mediocrity has passed, and we can all swing again on the chandeliers.
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