Plate G1.no5: The ‘Flatiron’ Building (1902), New York (USA).

As a student of architecture, I won a prize: the RIAS nine-hour sketch design for a ‘gusset’ site in Glasgow.*
A critical aspect of the challenge, clearly, was how to respond to the ‘gusset’; obviously, a dynamic moment in any city. I do not remember referencing specifically, the ‘Flatiron’ in my thinking (as opposed to two other buildings: the Arab Institute by Jean Nouvel, and the Unite d’Habitation by Le Corbusier) – nevertheless, even if my response was as diametrically opposed in terms of form, the ‘Flatiron’ doubtless made its inference felt, if only by comparison. For if there is one building in the world which un-equivocally exemplifies what it means: to respond to ‘gusset’, it is the ’Flatiron’ Building.**

*Refer to ILLUSTRATIONS – Gallery 3 [image no xxii].
**Further comment can be found in: E Books – A Walkers Diary (A Walkers Diary Vol 3)