MIES - Covent Garden

In the never-ending quest to understand what architecture truly is, sometimes it's good to go back in time.  As any historian would argue, what was true two hundred years ago functionally or stylistically, is also probably true today, to a certain extent.  Replace detail with form, building plan with function, and essentially you have the modern era.  The tenets, if carefully considered, are more changes in the nuances of words than one can initially glean.  This brings me to Covent Garden.

Covent Garden is a world-renowned district of London, which houses the fruit and vegetable market in its central square.  It is also the home of the Royal Opera House, which is typically referred to, not-too-surprisingly, as "Covent Garden."  The area itself is a main thoroughfare of Long Acre, a street in central London, along which many shops and restaurants are located.  


The six most important landmarks in Covent Garden, according to any Brit, would be the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden square and Covent Garden market, Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, the London Transport Museum and St. Paul's Actor's Church (not to be confused with the cathedral).  Many of the buildings were constructed out of iron and glass and underwent multiple reincarnations over their respective building lives.  Both Theatre Royal and the Royal Opera House, designed in early Neoclassical fashion, succumbed to the fires of London in 1808 and 1857.  Both showcased ballets, oratories, operas and other forms of live music.  While this type of construction - the performance building - is seen as a far less and less grandiose building by today's standards, it's worth noting that both building types still require star power on the design front.  Whether it's Raphael Vinoly or Inigo Jones, it seems that opera houses, all over the world, have to be statements as buildings.  The only difference, over the course of time, has been context.  It is far easier to separate a parcel of land now in the suburbs than it was then in downtown London.  As a result, the majority of our musical assemblies gather in multiple buildings and travel more frequently, sometimes to more rural locations.  This would not have been the case two centuries ago.


The culture of Covent Garden has long been associated with entertainment and shopping, not unlike our malls today.Covent Garden has 13 theatres, and over 60 pubs and bars, with most south of Long Acre, around the main shopping area of the old market.  The Seven Dials area in the north of Covent Garden was home to the punk rock club The Roxy in 1977, and the area remains focused on young people with its trendy mid-market retail outlets.


Overall, Covent Garden is no different that Quincy Market in Boston or Pike's Place in Seattle.  It is a place with graceful architecture that was fairly simple to conceive of, but unlike some malls today, it excels in the ordinary (rather than resembles the ordinary).  Whether their are street performers on display, or delicious sandwiches in the cases, Covent Garden reminds us that while buildings change, their types largely stay the same.  An architect can differ from a certain form all he/she wants.  Changing function is, and will always be, more difficult to do.