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New Hall, Cambridge
Aug. 27th, 2012 10:44 amWhilst at Congenial with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
major_clanger a few weeks ago, I was struck by the very unusual building. And as the weekend proceeded, several people told me the story of how it came into being. Apparently it was a last minute set of plans for a middle eastern shopping centre that were pulled off the shelf ad hoc. Quaint, I thought.
Yesterday whilst in the museum shop at Barbican I picked up a book on architecture and it fell open at New Hall's library. Coincidence or what? I read the three pages on the history of New Hall and the plans came from a competition in which 17 entries were received. Chamberlain, Powell and Bon's plans were chosen. The only reference middle eastern reference I can find is some post construction criticism comparting it to a harem.
Was the shopping centre an urban myth or is there substance to it that I've missed?
major_clanger a few weeks ago, I was struck by the very unusual building. And as the weekend proceeded, several people told me the story of how it came into being. Apparently it was a last minute set of plans for a middle eastern shopping centre that were pulled off the shelf ad hoc. Quaint, I thought.Yesterday whilst in the museum shop at Barbican I picked up a book on architecture and it fell open at New Hall's library. Coincidence or what? I read the three pages on the history of New Hall and the plans came from a competition in which 17 entries were received. Chamberlain, Powell and Bon's plans were chosen. The only reference middle eastern reference I can find is some post construction criticism comparting it to a harem.
Was the shopping centre an urban myth or is there substance to it that I've missed?
