Design Heritage

1) Wells Cathedral, Somerset, England

Wells Cathedral in Somerset dates from the early 13th century and is spectacular in its uniqueness and richness of decoration.

The Early Gothic interior is dominated by "scissor arches," seen nowhere else.

The octagonal Chapter House features elaborate rib vaulting and is considered among the most beautiful in England.

The north transept houses a doorway leading to a graceful, well-worn stairway where the double-branching flight of stairs seems to undulate like a wave.

It is one of the most beautiful staircases in Europe.

2) De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, Sussex

The De La Warr Pavilion was conceived as a means of introducing modernist architecture to wider society.

Set in the seaside resort of Bexhill, it was one of the most talked about buildings in Britain when it was opened in December 1935, both for its striking appearance and for the modern construction methods which were used to build it.

It is the first major welded steel-frame building in Britain

The competition to design it was the first for a public building in which a specifically modern solution was suggested in the brief.

Chermayeff was virtually unknown, but Mendelsohn was considered one of Germany's finest architects.

The respected Architects' Journal was bombarded with letters attacking the design of these "aliens", and the leader in Fascist Week fulminated against the public employment of "foreign Jews".

The Pavilion was sited on a prime site overlooking the Channel. Inside the walls were white, the floors were polished cork or terrazzo, and the furniture was stainless steel or bent wood. A twenty-three feet high steel, helix-like staircase seems to float in the middle of the building. Originally, there was a restaurant and dance-floor, a reading room, and a sun terrace, whose flat roof was used for deck games.

By the 1980s, it had fallen into disrepair, but has since been renovated with the help of the Pavilion Trust.

3) The Western wall in Jerusalem

The 'Wailing Wall', as it is known, in Jerusalem, is one of the most important designed spaces in the world. Technically, it is 'merely' a wall, however its symbolic, architectural, historic, religious and psychological role is unprecedented. In what ways then, can a wall that is 485 metres long and largely hidden by the buildings adjoining it, achieve such importance?

The Wall above ground consists of 24 rows of stones, reaching a total height of 18 metres with 6 metres above the level of the Temple Mount. Excavations revealed that 19 more rows lay buried underground, the lowest being sunk into the natural rock. In 1968 the ground in front of the Wall was excavated to reveal two of the buried rows of stone, and the Wall then consisted of seven layers of huge, stones from the Second Temple above which are four layers of smaller, plainly dressed stones from the Roman or Byzantine periods. The dimensions of the lower stones vary - the average height is 1 metre and 3 metres lengths, but some are as long as 12 metres and weigh over 100 tons - and are believed to be part of Solomon's Temple.

A series of undergound tunnels runs under the Wall. They run through a system of vaulted areas and water cisterns. In one tunnel the largest stones of the Wall were found, including a giant stone about 60 metres long, 3 metres high and 4 metres wide, and weighing approximately 400 tons.

It is the most sacred spot in Jewish religious and national consciousness and tradition by virtue of its proximity to the Western Wall of the Holy of Holies in the Temple, from which, according to numerous sources, the Divine Presence never departed.

It is situated in one of the most sacred spots for three major religions-Judaism, Islam and Christianity, yet it chequered and controversial history makes it one of the most complex, and disputed spaces in the world.

by: Katherine Klinger