Architecture Update: Centre of debate

PROPOSALS for the redevelopment of the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury, London, have been criticised by the original designer of the Seventies housing and shopping complex, Professor Patrick Hodgkinson, of Bath University. Although he is employed as a consultant by David Rock, the architect charged with remodelling the centre for its owners, Tranmac, Professor Hodgkinson claims that the proposals are merely piecemeal additions that fail to recognise the inherent qualities of the concrete 'megastructure'. But Mr Rock says: 'The Brunswick Centre is dying. Without our swift action for rehabilitation, the decline may be irreversible.'