Review - Stephen Hodder Continuity and Development 29.10.

2013

The Hertfordshire Architects Association hosted their annual lecture on Tuesday
night and invited Stephen Hodder, President of the RIBA and Chairman of
Hodder and Partners architectural practice in Manchester, to speak. The lecture
was held at the university of Hertfordshire and as an interior architecture student;
I had the privilege of being able to attend.

The subject of choice was development and continuity. Stephen began by
talking about his influences in architecture whilst studying in Manchester in the
1970's - being Scandinavian modernism and the likes of Alvar Aalto, Gunnar
Asplund and Arne Jacobsen.

In the 1990's once Hodder had set up practice, his team were invited to
commission student accommodation at St Catherine's college in Oxford -
designed by Arne Jacobsen - who was the college architect for twenty years.
Jacobsens work appealed to Hodder for its honesty and uniformity - it was
logical and true to its environment and materiality.

When designing the student accommodation, Hodder and partners wanted to
continue the theme of Jacobsen and create something that was responsive to
site
And paid homage to the original architect. He showed his audience the results
and I would say the result was questionable - it was clear the intention was there
but the end product didn't quite deliver on its promise. The building was clumsy
and didn't flow as well as it should have.

We were shown a selection of the practice's work over the following years -
mainly educational establishments and student accommodation before being
shown the product of their return to St Catherine's some ten years later for phase
2 of the accommodation buildings. This really bought home to me that being a
designer, even after graduating, is always a learning journey and progressive
path. It was clear that in this time, things had been tweaked, mistakes made and
learnt from, technologies developed and ideas experimented - it was as though
your sketch book never really stops - it just transfers from paper to the real world.

It was apparent that the second phase at St Catherine's had gained its own
identity and produced what the designer had intended.

It was clear from Stephen's talk that during the last 30 years and countless
projects, he and his team have always been learning and it is probably only now,
after completely their first high rise development is Manchester city centre -
NWS, a 37 storey student accommodation block - that they are finally finding
their 'voice' in the world of architecture, creating their own signature style which
has organically developed over time.

When put on the spot and questioned by us at the end of the lecture, Stephen
Hodder's answers were quickly thought through and concise proving my thinking
that being a designer is not only about being creative, it is also about being a
confident salesperson -convincing your client that your concept is the right one.

All in all, a really insightful talk that has definitely given me some food for thought!