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architectural visualisation

A FUTURISTIC NEW GLASS AND STEEL apartment building is to make its appearance in city centre Manchester, slotted in between the Great Northern Warehouse and the Manchester International Convention Centre.

For this reason it's known as the 'Slot site' and has been designed by architects Assael & Co, who kindly gave me permission to use this picture. The developers are Nicholson Estates Ltd.

In this visualisation, we are looking from the top of Sunlight House, down onto the piazza of the Great Northern Warehouse entertainment complex. The junction of Deansgate and Peter Street is visible at the bottom. The new building stands on the corner of Windmill Street and Watson Street. It will have 237 apartments and cost £35m.

It juts up into the sky with a similarly styled sloping roof to Number 1 Deansgate, both reminiscent of the Imperial War Museum North, but much higher. This cathedral in glass and steel will become the tallest landmark in this part of the city centre.

Eyewitness says: I like the bold and contemporary design, and would happily live in the penthouse apartment on the top floor, but I have reservations regarding the issue of 'appropriateness of location'. This giant curtain of glass will stand between a Victorian former railway station and former goods warehouse, and just behind an 1856 neo-Renaisssance former concert hall. However the bold juxtaposition of new and old appears to be current planning policy, and maybe they're right.

architectural visualisation

 

WHITWORTH WEST is a development of luxury apartments on the corner of Oxford Street, opposite the Palace Theatre (picture right) and Whitworth Street West, across from the Cornerhouse (picture left).

This is the architects visualisation taken from the website www.whitworthwest.com, and shows the building after dusk, with the neon frontage of Cornerhouse Cinema one glowing brightly.

This development appears to be high-tech and tasteful, with careful use of materials, both metal, composite and traditional. Each apartment will have a high-speed connection to the internet, along with the normal utilities and some will have balconies.

Let's not forget, this building stands .on the site of the former St Mary's Hospital, which moved to its present location next to Manchester Royal Infirmary in the 1960's.

Eyewitness says: The scale and outline of the building fit very well into this key location, echoing the neighbouring Tootal building. It will add an interesting and exciting element to this part of the city centre.

THE CITY ART GALLERY EXTENSION is seen here during construction, viewed from the Chinese-style porch on the corner of George St and.

This building is the missing link which will unite the City Art Gallery, facing onto Mosley St, with the gallery on Princess Street.

The question of how to design an extension to an existing historic building appears to have been dealt with by coming up with a structure which echoes the older buildings in height and colour, but doesn't attempt to compete with or imitate them.

Eyewitness says: The new building is a functional add-on to the historic buildings and will add hundreds of square feet of exhibition space, plus lots of exciting new facilities. It may look like set of rubic cubes stacked on top of each other, but the architects were probably right to go for the minimalist approach.

ST ANN'S SQUARE is one of the most attractive, elegant and popular locations in Manchester city centre, and has benefited from tasteful restoration by Manchester City Council - apart from the ugly, impractical and inappropriate 'cannon balls'.

The square was first pedestrianisted in the 1970's - its charm is based on its assortment of historic facades and buildings, including St Ann's Church, and because it has the quality of an old market place (though this area hasn't been used as a market for centuries).

Looking at St Ann's Square we can visualise a little what the original Market Place - overlooked by the old Shambles - might have developed into had it not been demolished to make way for the Arndale Centre.

CHORLTON STREET BUS STATION and multi storey car park occupy an exalted position in the canon of 'most disliked structures in Manchester'. This was one of city centre Manchester's first purpose-built multi-storey car parks.

Chorlton St bus station and car park heralded a new age of ugliness and mediocrity when it was opened in the late 60's/ early 70's. As a car park, the structure has been successful, and there are great views from the top deck. But as a bus station, its shabby appearance and lack of facilities have been a cause of depression for thousands of coach passengers. It contrasts sharply with the best bus station I know, Busáras in Dublin with its airport style departure lounge, and gates. The council-sponsored Transport interchange, proposed for the site on Shude Hill bears a remarkable resemblance to this building, with its multi-storey upper section and bus/tram station below, though with 'airport-style' facilities.

Eyewitness says: The coach station ought to be relocated to a site on Fairfield St, next to the revamped Piccadilly Station. There's plenty of space, and there are wide streets leading to the Mancunian Way and facilities could be shared with the rail terminal. But what are they going to do? The bus station is to remain in its present location and be modernised.

EAGLE STAR HOUSE, on Mosley Street is is currently (May 2001) standing empty with a 'to let' sign on it. I'm not sure why it isn't occupied.

In order to make way for this building, a Milne's warehouse, described by Philip Atkins in his 'Guide Across Manchester' as "one of the most exciting in Manchester" was demolished.

Eagle Star House has all the charm of a multi-storey car park and even looks like one. As Philip Atkins in 'Guide Across Manchester' rightly says, its stark horizontality degrades this part of Mosley Street. It should never have been built in the first place and must now stand as a warning to what can happen to our city and its heritage if it isn't cared for and protected.

PICCADILLY PLAZA was the first purpose-built office and shopping development in post-war Manchester and was constructed between 1958 and 1965 on a blitzed site.

At the time it was built it was seen as an exciting and trendy symbol of Britain during the 'white heat' of the technological revolution. I remember the opening credits of the Simon Dee chat show, with the host driving his E-type Jaguar up this spiral ramp or one similar.

But within a couple of years, the shopping piazza proved a failure and by the mid-seventies, the building started to look run-down (and Simon Dee had become a distant memory). By the mid-1990's, it had become a symbol a shabby symbol of the recent past, and the failure of modern architecture to create an environment for the future.

Eyewitness says: I had a dream last night (28/4/01) that I had returned from my April 2001 trip to the UAE to find that someone had acted on my earlier suggestion and demolished Piccadilly Plaza, but without asking me first! Paradoxically, I was sad that even though I had always had mixed feelings about the building, it was part of 'my Manchester', begun the year I was born, and I wandered around the empty site feeling very upset!

AND SO WE COME FINALLY TO the building proposed in 2000 by Manchester City Council for the Portland Street end of Piccadilly Gardens, as featured previously in Eyewitness in Manchester.

What have we learned from the successes and mistakes of the past 50 years of city centre redevelopment, or more to the point, what have the decision-makers learned?

The answer to that question can only be provided definitively at least five years after the building is completed, so in the year 2007 I hope to do a reappraisal.

So keep watching this space for an ongoing personal view of Manchester in photographs and words. More updates online soon!

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