Romanticism is a manifesto of a literature, art and philosophy. It was first originating in 18 century under the movement of literary, artistic, and philosophical. The romanticism is characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. In terms of architecture, romanticism could elaborate in sensation, details in order to evoke deep emotion and feeling in human nature. It is about the mindset and feeling. We are all now more or less in some aspect of our sensibilities romantic by nature. It is also the best understood as a reaction to the birth of modern world. However, it is totally difference from each other. Even though the modernism is a philosophical that response to romanticism, but it was based upon new and innovative technologies of construction. Modernism mainly focuses on the roles of innovation, science and technology that play big part in our society. When the industrial revolution and the machine age contributed to the development of modern thinking. Modernists defy traditional norms, replacing them with humanistic values. According to these reason, we could say that romanticism and modernism is the philosophy that sit at the opposite end of the same rope. Yet, it does not mean this two apexes can not be touch each other. Therefor, how could Amin Taha, the architects, interweave these two philosophy together into the conclusion of this magnificent modern craft building, The 15 Clerkenwell Close?

First and foremost, in order to understand the work of art of this particular building. It is important to recognize the maker, Amin Taha. He was born in Berlin and has been settled in the United Kingdom since 1974. He graduated in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh. After 10 years of working in the offices of Zaha Hadid, he began an independent studio in 2003 and incorporated Groupwork , an architecture firm base in United Kingdom, as an Employee. He has turned into an Employee Ownership Trust of which he currently sits as chairman. His practice work has won RIBA and international awards, which, alongside design competition wins, have resulted in it being shortlisted it as one of the UK’s and Europe’s emerging offices. Amin as well as running the design and detailing of projects. Moreover, he has taught, written and lectured on architecture. He also sat on the RIBA National and International Awards Jury and aids property related research groups and funds

In the context of materials under the project conceptual, limestone is what Amin Taha brought on the table. Under his research, the Normans discovered that when the limestone is keep freshly wet from the quarry. It remains soft enough to crave before calcifying for strong fortifications. This method is obliging in successfully establishing conquests and later tracery in religious and buildings of state. For arguably better weathering, fire and structural integrity, this knowledge and skill of combining material and structural has help define an architecture that has been lost through the ubiquitous layering of over cladding frames.

With this methods, it allow the limestone to be craft by hand which make this project diverge from most modern architecture. It is literally the hand craft architecture in this modern architecture world. According to the way he treat his materials, this building has make humble announcement that it goes against the idea of mass-production which modernist architect seem to be obsessed with. What interested the most is the reason that modernism architecture claim about mass-production is to reduce the cost and make the design accessible for everyone. Ironically, as we know it is not always the case. Most of the modern architect is high in price and less sustainable. Thus in this project, it turn out that Amin is not only achieve on reducing construction cost but also carbon footprint that is normally produce in concrete and steels which will be explain later in details on structure topic. That means the 15 Clerkenwell Close not only content the idea of modernist but could solve the modernism paradox to make our world a better place in terms of cost and environmental in an aesthetic phenomenal.
It is not only the culture and history that has been covered. Beside, the architect not only acknowledges the cultural and man-made history but also the notion of time in pre-historic nature. If we look closely to the lime stone, it is not just a segmentary rock. Once the limestones has been split into the segmentary layer, it does have the organic object such as fossils, shells and so on which make him wonder why he need to get rid of it and why not craft something out of it? He realize that this is the naked beauty of the material itself. This become his architecture ornaments from the past which celebrate the natural beauty as the land speak by itself. This is terrific poetry way to be done. It to carry the real soul of the past and freeze it in time of modern architecture.

With the beauty of self-finished materials, carved and fallen column, it revealed cloister and mosaic floors of 15 Clerkenwell Close at first alludes to a local physical and social archaeology. In the other hand, it also raise a question on architectural heritage and its integration within a broader culture.

The 15 Clerkenwell Close has won two Royal Institute of British Architects awards and was recently long listed for the biannual Mies van der Rohe Prize; “the European equivalent of the UK’s prestigious Stirling Prize for architecture”. The FT’s Edwin Heathcote described 15 Clerkenwell Close as “perhaps the most sophisticated, witty and thoughtful new building in London in years”.

Another criticism is fromt Ann Pembroke, one of the local Clerkenwell Green Preservation Society. She said this building make her appalled and described it as "stands out like a sore thumb."

"The building is awful". The head of the planning committee at Islington Council told the local paper.

Not everyone seem to be happy with this ground breaking poetry craft in stone. Many has called it ugly just because it doesn’t use the same materials as the surround building.

Amin Taha argue that those nearby buildings are also not the original design as many people understood. This chaos and dramatic situation is interesting on how society react to this ‘new’ kind of modern architecture that was create by the architect. It almost the same situation as the early year of Mies van de Rohe when the society didn’t understand his work and rejected it. Dramatically, not only the criticism that 15 Clerkenwell Close had to face. In 2018 this £4.65 million project faces wrecking ball. Islington Council, had ordered the demolition to this RIBA award-wining building. The council claim that this building looks very different compare with the original plan.

Conversely, the council said it’s “rough, ugly and detrimental to the conservation area” and residents complained, with one saying it is an “absolute abomination.”