THING OF THE WEEK
LONG-AWAITED PICTURES… The fancy new CGIs of Liverpool Waters given an airing at MIPIM in March have been released to the world this week, to oohs and aahs from all, although the claim that these were brand-spanking new images might have been a step too far. The imagery is quite impressive, and shows how the scheme has developed human scale – as Pete Swift of masterplanner Planit-IE described to Place North West, it now responds more to heritage assets such as the Dock Wall and clock tower, and wisely embraces Unesco’s Historic Urban Landscapes guidelines. And while it’s not quite the brand-new bombshell many are making out, frankly, it’s just nice to have something that’s moved on from the somewhat ‘finger in the air, it may or may not look like this’ stuff from 2008.
HASHTAG… #architectorarchitecturestyleasong might be a mouthful of a hashtag, but it has provided some entertainment this week, with favourites including Oops, Hadid it Again and You Gotta Fight for your Frank Lloyd Wright to Party. Surely there are some local contenders, though? THING faithfully submits the Housemartins’ 5plus Get Over-excited, the Small Faces-inspired Falconer Chester Hall Or Nothing and Whitesnake’s Ready to Brock Carmichael. Kylie makes an appearance with Can’t Get You Outta My Shedkm, and there’s a bit of soulfulness with Michael Franti’s OMI God. Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get SimpsonHaugh might be a step too far though…
Hidden for over 20 years, this amazing mushroom column, supporting the Poached Egg, has been set free at The Toastrack for @generation_ltd pic.twitter.com/EEvOc4Brts
— Sixtwo Architects (@Sixtwo__) May 3, 2018
MUSHROOM… Everybody loves the Toast Rack, the distinctive lynchpin of what was MMU’s Hollings campus, but there’s a lot of love for other buildings at the site too. And now development is under way, hidden gems are emerging. Take this beauty, a mushroom column supporting the Poached Egg, a circular building which was converted from assembly hall to library in 1996 by MBLA. The column is now once again set free as part of Generation’s increasingly breakfast-themed redevelopment project. Lovely.
ALL IN THE FAMILY… Not all of us want to grow up to be our dads – personally your author would prefer a bit more hair – but in construction, known for its family businesses, it seems sons and daughters are more likely to follow in their family footsteps. That’s especially true in the North West, with the likes of the Seddons, the Russells, and the Bardsleys all still in family ownership. The latter has now reached its latest generation after Hugo Bardsley, the 17-year-old son of chairman Roly, started work experience on the contractor’s Nuvu Covent Garden Scheme in Stockport. Hugo follows his father and his grandfather, Roland, who was the company’s chairman for 37 years, and Bardsley says it now employs nine father-and-son duos across a workforce of 200.
NOT QUITE LIGHT… Simon Buckley, the brains behind the photography project Not Quite Light, is staging a festival for Salford in two weeks’ time to coincide with a new exhibition of his works. The guided walks at dawn, a staple of the project, will feature, alongside four new commissions, concerts, urban foraging, and a dawn bike ride. Also on the agenda is a panel discussion on the “changing face of Salford”, featuring Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett, the council’s head of development Shelagh McNerney, Andy Avery of Buttress Architects, and Citizen-i director Clare Devaney. Taking place between Friday 18 May and Sunday 20 May, a full catalogue of the events can be found here.