On LineYou Can Email
at In this issue A Flume with a View Page
by Page OnLine
Edition |
A FLUME WITH A VIEW |
. | ||
| . | p2
But it does not feel child-friendly. One suspects that the, blue plastic flume
(children's water slide) was resisted by the architect, and only put in under duress. It
seems totally out of keeping with the austere, clinical architecture of the rest of the
spaces and fittings: rather like finding a bouncy castle in the entrance of the Tate
Modern. The flume itself is almost vertical and ends in a small pool no larger than a
cattle trough, and there is no baby pool or paddling pool, unless I am mistaken. You can
see some problems arising as young children (and their carers) begin to realise that this
centre is not really for them. continued on next page |
. | ||
|
||||
As the wraps come off
the new Clissold Leisure Centre In Clissold Road, revealing a gleaming steel structure
that looks as though it has been parachuted In from a Stanley Kubrick movie, local writer
Ken Worpole managed a sneak preview of the inside.
and vistas as you move around the building. The Centre includes two pools, a
dance studio, several gym areas, squash courts, sauna, catering areas, and probably much
else, though on my visit an air of suspicion towards all 'strangers' in the building, made
me keep my questions to a minimum. What is perhaps the most astonishing thing about this
new building is that it seems three times as big on the inside as it does on the outside,
so much so that you wonder if you will ever actually visit all its spaces and facilities
in a single day. Only the most mean-spirited critic would fail to praise the skill
involved in designing these expansive flows of space and volume on such a relatively small
site.