Extracts from a Slack conversation with my Project Soane collaborators:
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If Soane could build a tower I wonder what it would be like?
Yes, I’ve sometimes wondered about that. I thought of trying to redesign Bakers bank in the style of Soane, and preserving more of Soanes original work.
Then I thought about doing it so that it could expand vertically, ie more like Soanes bank which is an accumulation of disparate parts welded together, like a medieval city that evolved over time.
Could you imagine his style gradually evolving, keeping pace with the modern world (which he always tried to do) becoming more abstract and simplified
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The projecting front of his own house was originally open balconies, almost like an exposed concrete frame
Also there is a scheme for a double storey conservatory at the back of Pitzhanger Manor that looks almost modernist
But would he have been able to abandon ornament completely and still stay true to himself? How would he have avoided the awful pastiche of so…