Crazy Name, Crazy Building

Madonna's Bra, The Pregnant Oyster and other peculiar buildings

The difficult and mysterious subject of the popular reception of architecture is illustrated by the eventful early life of the new theatre in Ilfracombe, North Devon , designed by Tim Ronalds Architects. With its two brick cones 20m high, it is a radical design, especially so for a seaside town which had seen no public building for more than fifty years. After numerous presentations to different groups in the community, the town was divided into more or less equal groups in favour of and against the scheme. The battle of imagery started: a butcher who supported the project started to make cone-shaped meat pasties; opponents compared the scheme to a power station.

Then the project acquired a name: 'Madonna's Bra'. I don't know if it was a pro- or anti- who thought of this resemblance, but one of the scheme's opponents wrote to the Daily Mail - generally considered the most reactionary of newspapers - pointing it out. They latched onto the story enthusiastically, applying the rule of thumb controversy + sex = news. It is unlikely that they approved of the project, but they couldn't resist a smirk in retelling the story, titling the article 'The Bra Pavilions'. The whole thing was so redolent of those 'saucy seaside' postcards where implausibly buxom women and rake-thin men exchange double entendres. And so the name 'Madonna's Bra' stuck.

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