THING OF THE WEEK
SEA HOUSE… The North West isn’t short of funky developers who fancy themselves as leading-edge, but we can all learn something from Swedish developer AquaVilla, who has this week announced its largest floating home. Located in Marinstaden, Sjövilla 210 “perfectly embodies Scandinavia’s ambitious design culture, constructed with materials chosen to function to the highest standard in marine conditions”. Just so cool, aren’t they. The house is constructed on a 12 x 18m concrete support on the seabed, so you’ve not even got the danger of some rascal making away with your home, which houseboat owners must surely fear deep down. If councils are ever really short of brownfield sites in areas close to the Irish Sea, they’ll now know who to call.
Liverpool’s St George’s Hall is included in the relisted sites
SUFFRAGETTE CITY… This year marks 100 years since (some) women were first granted to vote. There’s various events going on throughout 2018 as part of ‘HerStories’, a project celebrating the centenary and bringing information about the Votes for Women movement to the fore. Today, Historic England has got in on the action, recognising and relisting 41 places across England that were at the centre of suffrage protests, from mass meetings, to smashed windows and hunger strikes. Sites include Liverpool’s St George’s Hall where a local suffragette hid in an organ loft to disturb an MP’s speech, and Manchester’s Free Trade Hall where the suffragette movement began. Many of these places are already listed buildings, but until now there has been no record of their suffragette history on the National Heritage List for England. Click here for the full list and history of the 41 locations here: http://bit.ly/2JdXq8h
BE BOLD… Liverpool’s Bold Street hasn’t been the same since favourite cafe Bold Street Coffee closed due to maintenance issues, and temporarily set up camp over at Castle Street. Now, owners Sam and Katy have a chance to get back into their original venue at Number 89, at a cost of £70,000 if they can pay for the new fit-out. A Kickstarter campaign is targetting £30,000, and £15,000 has already been raised with 19 days to go. The money will enable Bold Street Coffee to spread across two floors, so there’s even more to love. What’s more, a £10 donation gets you five free coffees, and for larger donations there are other treats such as espresso-making training with the world barista champion, and bacon butties for a year. As long as Bold Street Coffee don’t do themselves out of a job…
Check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1645190874/bold-street-coffee-back-in-89
SPEED FREAK… Everyone’s going loopy over Hyperloop, the magnetic levitation pod which could one day be shooting passengers across countries at more than 1,000 km an hour. The only downside of this high-speed, cross-country travel? You may be whizzing past all the sites, but will there be a view to speak of? One answer, proposed by Virgin Hyperloop and its architect Bjarke Ingels, is to dot the hyperloop tunnel with circular windows, which when seen at high speed will create the idea of shooting through one long, transparent tunnel. Impressive, although fears over the strobe effect causing passengers headaches and vomiting have already been mentioned on social media.
How slotted ‘zoetrope’ windows could turn both sides of a hyperloop tube transparent, allowing views outside the pod. #BiennaleArchitettura2018 @BjarkeIngels pic.twitter.com/2aGGnMJgqv
— Josh Giegel (@jgiegel) June 4, 2018
SPEAKEASY… Allied London this week confirmed that the Bonded Warehouse at St John’s will include, alongside space for a craft brewery, a gin distillery including a stilling room, sampling room and “speakeasy-style bar”. Speakeasies and “dive bars,” THING has found, can be defined as things that make people who go there feel like they’re living on the edge, as if there’s a whiff of danger in places where one is paying a small fortune for a G&T. It’s all about the language – see also “rocking the Peaky Blinders look” which used to be known as “wearing a hat”.
