More of the lost Bank of England is revealed in a computer animation, created from Soane's original drawings by the University of Bath's Department of Architecture under Professor Robert Tavernor. Such animations are becoming quite the thing in architectural exhibitions (plenty of original models will be there too for old times' sake), but for all their forensic excellence, they have a flat, lifeless quality that can give only a fleeting sense of the original. Tavernor's computerised walk-through of the main rooms of the old Bank - an itinerary prescribed by Soane for Royal visitors - however comes to life at intervals where the monochrome dissolves into the colour and light of Soane's own perspective drawings.
At his most audacious - as in some of these interiors - Soane reduced his classical ornamentation to a few incised lines: astonishingly daring for the time. Although he produced some sumptuously rich designs for public buildings, most drawn to fantastical effect by his devoted assistant Jospeh Michael Gandy, at his best he achieved his effects not through ornament but through form, colour, and above all space and light. This, of course is the programme of modernist architecture. Which is why modernists claim Soane for their own, along with Hawksmoor, in a way they would never claim 18th century classicists such as Robert Adam or Sir William Chambers. Leading architects including Lords (Norman) Foster, (Richard) Rogers and Sir Michael Hopkins are on the list of sponsors for the show. Soane, ensconced in his funereal lair, trying on his Masonic regalia, researching ancient mysteries - could have had no idea what he was starting. Was Soane the first minimalist? If so, he was the best.
