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| . | p3 Continued from page 2 allow total privacy. This gives it an austere, almost chilling, atmosphere, lightened
only by the elegant Swiss railway clock (often favoured by minimalist architects). One
wonders how long staff will be able to resist the temptation to add a few indoor plants
and playpens to offset this attitude of architectural high seriousness, which borders on
clinical depression.
It is clear that there will shortly be a lot of local and national interest in the new
Leisure Centre, and it will be talked about for years to come. Controversy is riot likely
to go away about the swimming pool that broke the mould (and the bank along with it too).
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This is probably very good architecture indeed, but that is not
quite the point. Is it appropriate to the needs of the particular community in which it
has been built? Remember that Stoke Newington is in the midst of an extraordinary baby
boom, as the teeming crowds in the children's playground in Clissold Park confirm. Yet
this is not a 'community facility' so much as a high-level sports facility, which Sport
England - in Its typical colonialist mentality - may feel that this part of London needs.
Certainly they have never replied to any of my phone calls asking about the degree of
community consultation which went into the project. Some Hackney residents I have spoken
to feel that four cheaper pools spread around the borough and focused more on school and
family use would have been a more equitable way of spending the very large sum of money
spent on this flagship building.
