Examples of enduring good design?

[Over The Hill]

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...=london+underground&gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off&sa=G http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...=london+underground&gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off&sa=G

 

[CopperBrompton]

Oh yes, a classic

 

[Globalti]

The Aga cooker, designed in 1929 by a blind man to have no controls but be capable of doing all cooking operations and heat the house. Still virtually unchanged today:

 

[gazmercer]

Here we are, discussing design classics on a cycling forum and nobody's mentioned this...

OR ONE OF THESE

 

[dellzeqq]

The Aga cooker, designed in 1929 by a blind man to have no controls but be capable of doing all cooking operations and heat the house. Still virtually unchanged today:

even in summer!

 

[Proto]

The Aga cooker, designed in 1929 by a blind man to have no controls but be capable of doing all cooking operations and heat the house. Still virtually unchanged today:

Have you ever tried living with one? Or even cooking on one? Not the best, but they do look good.

 

[Proto]

Because the war got in the way and fashions changed. Streamlining was very much a 1930s "Race to the North" thing; after the war the railways were underfunded and overworked and neither the LMS nor the LNER had the resources to resume their streamlining programmes.
The reason I chose the A4, incidentally, was because the streamlining was an integral part of the design, and it worked. Stanier's "Coronation" class, while equally good looking, were tricky to drive because the smoke was blown into the drivers' vision, and the streamlining was a bolt on extra which was removed in the 1940s.

You were doing okay until you wrote 'fashions changed'

And they later modified the design by taking the splash guards off the wheels. Better for it too, in my opinion.

 

[wafflycat]

Sure, you can. But at the Westminster Station, it's designed in, and in a way that never let's you forget. It is a heavy, oppressive atmosphere that's created by the massive beams and monochrome grey, almost like something out of Metropolis - even if you can forget the cameras, the barriers, the fencing and armed police that 'welcome' you to the heart of British democracy.

Westminster station is utterly and completely depressing. I've been on a tube train there and seriously, the immediate response I had to looking at the grey, oppressive, dullness of it was that I was really glad I did not have to use that station. The dull, oppressive concrete greyness of it reminded me of Killingworth New Town in the 1970s - a truly awful place with those mistakes of concrete towers..

 

[Globalti]

Westminster station is utterly and completely depressing. I've been on a tube train there and seriously, the immediate response I had to looking at the grey, oppressive, dullness of it was that I was really glad I did not have to use that station. The dull, oppressive concrete greyness of it reminded me of Killingworth New Town in the 1970s - a truly awful place with those mistakes of concrete towers..

How can a grey steel and concrete station built in the last 10 years ever qualify as an enduring good design? Good in some people's opinion but enduring?

 

[Globalti]

Have you ever tried living with one? Or even cooking on one? Not the best, but they do look good.

Yes, we had one for 7 years in our first marital home and now we have one that we got second hand off Ebay in our second. We love them; they keep the kitchen warm, dry and well ventilated, the ovens are always hot, the roasting oven roasts beautifully thanks to the intense, dry, all-round heat, there are no cooking odours because all the fumes go up the flue, they dry the washing.... I could go on for ages. As for cooking on them you have to understand how to use them - many people make the mistake of cooking on the hotplates, which quickly exhausts the heat stored in the Aga and fills the kitchen with steam and smells. The correct technique is to bring your pan to the boil on the plate, partially drain the water then transfer it to an oven where it cooks in the all-round heat and there are no smells.

The only downside is that Mrs RR refuses to turn the damned thing off in summer until we are all sweltering with the solar gain through the bifold doors.

You can use an Aga to heat the water but it's a very inefficient method and many people end up removing the boiler from inside.

 

[dellzeqq]

Have you ever tried living with one? Or even cooking on one? Not the best, but they do look good.

I lived with one. It was a complete pain in the arse. Most Aga owners have very expensive microwaves.

The only downside is that Mrs RR refuses to turn the damned thing off in summer until we are all sweltering with the solar gain through the bifold doors.

yes. Quite.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Have we mentioned the brick yet?...

 

[dellzeqq]

Have we mentioned the brick yet?...

the brick has had its day. I treasure my City and Guilds in Brickwork and Masonry, and I adore designing in brick, but as a method of construction it should have been parked once we started tearing up the countryside to produce them, and pushing fluorine in to the sky. Rammed earth is the way to go...

 

[threebikesmcginty]

the brick has had its day. I treasure my City and Guilds in Brickwork and Masonry, and I adore designing in brick, but as a method of construction it should have been parked once we started tearing up the countryside to produce them, and pushing fluorine in to the sky. Rammed earth is the way to go...

Rammed earth indeed!

The brick is a multi-activity tool eccentric uncle Simon, what would smash and grab thieves use if we got rid of the brick?

 

[Tollers]

I think the brick is perfect for this thread....maybe in a different guise though....