Chapter 2 of 17
A Model Of The Much-Hated Robinson Building Was Burnt & The Ashes Presented To The Architect
So a group of us got together. We were in second year then, and we did all sorts of slightly disruptive things, of which I remember one of the most high profile was we joined up with the Anti-Ugly Campaign, which at the time was being driven in London by the Regent Street Polytechnic. And we had a vote amongst university students for the ugliest building in Bristol. The building that won was the Robinson Tower, which had just been completed, which actually looking back wasn't a bad building, but it won the student vote by a mile. That was probably because it was a tall building, a debate which has been part of my professional life ever since, really: tall buildings. And so we actually burnt an effigy of the Robinson building, much to the annoyance of some of the more senior students at the RWA at the time. And there was a pitch battle at the top of Park Hill, between fifth year students who supported the Robinson building, and second year students who were trying to burn it.