Martin Touška's Retirement
- Category: People
- Date Published: 8th April 2024
After more than four decades of dedicated service to architecture and almost 40 years of outstanding contributions to Rolfe Judd, we are both delighted and saddened to announce that Martin Touška, one of our esteemed directors will be retiring. Martin’s journey has been nothing short of remarkable. Over the years, he has exemplified excellence, leadership, and unwavering commitment to our Rolfe Judd’s mission and values
Martin has not only been a cornerstone of our organisation but also a mentor and inspiration to many within our team. His guidance, wisdom, and passion for design have shaped several careers and fostered a culture of innovation and excellence that will endure for years to come. As we bid farewell to Martin, we had a chat with him to comment of his long journey with us, to celebrate not only his extraordinary professional accomplishments but also the enduring friendships and memories he has created within our Rolfe Judd family.
What initially drew you to the field of architecture, and how has your passion for it evolved over the past 40 years?
I have always been interested in art as well as the sciences, and architecture is a synthesis of both and more. To combine creativity, technical knowledge and with those achieve some lasting physical contributions for peoples’ use and enjoyment seemed to be worthwhile aims. As I embarked on the architectural journey, I was concerned about the stark separation of urban housing determined by tenure and income at the time, and hoped that would change. Fortunately government and planning policies did evolve to encourage better mixing and quality for all tenures. I was pleased to be able to contribute to developing properly integrated high quality mixed use and mixed tenure schemes. It has been a long journey for me in architecture, and I never stopped learning on a daily basis, and always sought to develop fresh ideas for each project with its unique parameters and genius loci.
Reflecting on your career journey, what have been some of the most memorable projects you’ve worked on, and what made them stand out to you?
I was fortunate to have a great variety and sizes of projects during my architectural career, and to have been able to take many from inception to completion, enjoying every aspect of being an all round architect, including managing internal and external teams. The projects ranged from refurbishments of Georgian Listed buildings, Bond St. shops, through to large complex urban mixed use developments with multiple high rise towers and landscaped podia. It is hard to pick from my numerous exciting projects at Rolfe Judd, many of which were built, but here are some examples:
Baskerville House in Birmingham was a major reconstruction and vertical extension within the shell of the Listed Old Council offices, giving a new lease of life to a redundant building, providing highly distinctive and sustainable modern offices. The project won several awards, including the BCO regional award.
It was also interesting to work on Centre Point, now listed, but formerly infamous for being kept underused. The refurbishment and fitting out of many of the office floors, with addition of amenity facilities saw the building with greater occupancy than ever before.
The Saffron Square development kick started the regeneration of Croydon, and won a placemaking award. On the site of uninspiring 60’s office buildings a new public landscaped square was created enveloped by varied scale of buildings, culminating in a 44 storey coloured glass tower forming the northern gateway to Croydon town centre.
36 Queen St. in the City within the St. Paul’s height limits was a good example of an office rebuild which produced a completely new looking building inside and out whilst reusing most of the RC frame.
The redevelopment of the Oval gas works into a mixed use urban quarter was my last large scale project. One of the blocks is a torus shaped residential building within an enormous listed gasometer frame. The scale allows apartments facing outwards, as well as inwards around a landscaped courtyard, stepping up, with views across the Oval cricket ground. This is now under construction, and I look forward to following the progress.
As you look back on your more than 40 years in the architectural industry, what are some of the most significant changes you’ve witnessed, both in terms of technology and design trends?
The trends in architecture are ever changing and often to some extent repeating. When I started in architecture, Post-Modern was the fashion, as a reaction to what was perceived as cold modernism. Hand drawing was the norm and architects’ offices were full of large drawing boards. CAD gradually replaced hand drawing, and more recently BIM has become prevalent, with the use of AI just beginning. I think there is a different thinking process when hand drawing, and I believe that there is still a lot of value in hand sketching together with imagining the developing design and construction in 3-4D, not just relying on computers, although of course they are hugely useful. City North, a great mixed-use scheme in Finsbury Park was the first Rolfe Judd project developed in the BIM environment, and I had the pleasure of directing and leading it, with all the new challenges that involved. We have a lot of tools now, but they need to be used appropriately and wisely for the right purposes.
Communication has changed enormously: initially this was just by letter and phone call. Fax then followed as a useful tool; it was great to be able to send a sketch to site by fax. Whilst email is marvelous, because it is so easy to use, there is a tendency to overuse it, which instead of being a benefit, can be a hindrance. The ridiculous amount of emails in daily inboxes now wastes a lot of time going through them and risks missing important messages. When letters were the main form of communication, they were given proper consideration: firstly, is it necessary to write, and because it was a slow process they were given proper consideration. There is now a temptation to send immediate responses, which can be unnecessary or reckless.
Originally drawing had to be printed by the ammonia-based dyeline process, and enormous amounts of paper and associated cost was needed for each project. After decades of promising the paperless office, this is finally happening.
Construction procurement has been changing throughout my time, with traditional contracts with the architect as contract administrator being the norm. I have been fortunate that I have administered many projects throughout, to the very end of my career. Over time, management contracting, construction management and design and build have become much more prevalent. “Value engineering” has become fashionable, and whilst the concept properly applied can be valuable, in practice it is mostly a cost saving exercise lowering quality. Clerks of Works were the norm on larger projects, being on site full time checking quality and helping to resolve issues, and it is unfortunate that this function has now all but disappeared. I think it very unlikely that the catalogue of issues leading up to the Grenfell disaster would have happened had there been traditional procurement and a clerk of works. Since the Building Safety Act, it is now time again to reassess the most appropriate forms of procurement.
How have you seen the role of sustainability and environmental consciousness evolve in architecture during your career, and what impact do you believe it will have on the future of the industry?
It is interesting that when I was at university at the Bartlett in the late 70’s, there was an acute sense of the need for sustainability. Teaching and projects included the use of recycled materials, alternative renewable energy systems and the like. I was surprised that “in the real world” there was very little appetite at the time for such considerations. Although very late, I am glad that at least towards the end of my architectural career, sustainability and environmental consciousness are at last beginning to be taken seriously and have some traction. Often technology and politics take a long time to catch up with ideas. Many of my projects, like Great Pulteney Street, involved retention of some parts of old buildings, whether facades or concrete frames, which saved a lot of embodied carbon, whilst the buildings were totally transformed and optimised. Some look like completely new buildings inside and out. The trend to make the most of existing buildings is set to expand.
As you prepare to embark on this new chapter of retirement, what advice do you have for your colleagues who will continue to shape the future of Rolfe Judd?
It is now a particularly challenging time in architecture and the construction industry. In my latter time I have been helping my colleagues to navigate the ever more onerous regulatory environment, particularly the changes coming from the Building Safety Act. It is more important than ever to always try to see in perspective, and make sensible decisions in the light of this overview. It would be easy to get lost in the myriad of requirements, regulations and standards. I think that really good architecture is produced with this holistic view to achieve the best possible balance between all the competing and often contradictory parameters. The “iconic” design is not necessarily good design, and whilst eye catching can sacrifice too many of the other aspects of good design. The ancient aims of architecture: Firmness, Commodity, and Delight still hold true in my view. In summary I would reiterate the old wise advice to “keep calm and carry on” and “always look on the bright side of life”.
