Rant of the Week: Buildings

Enter U-B, stage right, with a flourish of the coat

Greetings my fellow citizens.

I thought, on my return, that I would re-introduce ROTW. And what better subject to do this on than Buildings.

I have just got back from one of the greatest areas of the planet - the North East. We were on a grand tour of York, Durham, and Newcastle, revisiting old haunts and friends who never made the foolish decision to move away.

While in Durham, I did something I never did in all the four years I spent as a student there. I went to Evensong in the Cathedral. Don't get me wrong, I went in the Cathedral a lot - at least 60 - 70 % of our concerts took place in there, so I knew the environs like the back of my hand. But this was the first time I had been to a Church Service there, and it was wonderful. The Cathedral Choir sang beautifully and I don't think can sufficiently describe the atmosphere I had form attending a service in this monolithic building, which, for centuries, has seen worshippers come and go. Furthermore, it also made me realise another of the reasons WHY, many hundreds of years ago, people slaved for an impossibly long time to erect this building in honour of a spiritual concept.

I could rhapsodise for pages on Durham Cathedral, but I will spare you that, especially as most of you know it well. However, late in the evening, we had a discussion with our very religious friend D-B about, amongst other things, the state of religion and especially, the state of the Anglican church. It is fair to say that it is in dire straits, and a great schism is fast approaching. And it saddened me to think that, having survived assaults, wars, and air strikes, Durham Cathedral may be rendered fairly ineffective as a place of worship by the very people who worship there.

(I shall pick up on this topic in a later post).

So I got thinking, what are our grand building projects in the current era? What do we construct to worship in?

A stroll along the Gateshead bank of the Tyne highlighted the best bits of Modern design, with the massive regeneration project taking place. The Millenium Bridge and the Baltic are exceptional examples of design old and new, with the Baltic in particular, being an entirely galvanised space inside a shell constructed in the 19th Century.

The there is The Sage, a masterpiece of modern design and, for me (being a Music Geek) one of the most important new spaces for music created in the past ten years.

For many people, these buildings are the modern equivalent of the Cathedrals, where we worship the Gods of Art and Music. However, it doesn't hold the same sway over the population as the old Cathedrals used to do. There is no sense of ritual with these buildings.

Then, on the train home, it struck me.

Our modern Cathedrals are Sports Grounds, and in particular, Football Grounds.

Yesterday, the train sidled into Kings Cross, passing on its way the new, rapidly-developing shape of the Emirates Stadium at Ashburton grove, the proposed new home of Arsenal FC. When completed, it will take up a similar ground space to a major Cathedral and seat 70000 people. The people who attend will worship their team, their people, and in the same way as a congregation at a religious ceremony raise their voices and sing forth, so too will the 70000 people here.

But the fact is, it's vile. It's concrete functionality at best. It will take three years to build, as opposed to the 150 it took people to complete Durham Cathedral. Sure, they'll gloss over the giant concrete frame with images and plastics and metals, but it'll still be a big concrete bowl. And I'm fairly certain I prefer "Thanks be to God" as a form of worship to "Who's the Bastard in the Black?"

I wonder if, in 500 years' time, people will traipse round the Emirates Stadium and marvel at the ceremonies that took place there? I doubt it very much, as by then it will no doubt have collapsed and been redeveloped. But I would be willing to bet that, even if unused, Durham Cathedral will still be standing.

This isn't really a rant, per se, just a set of observations about our time. I thought I'd share them with you.

Exit stage left, pursued by a bear.