Festering sores and parapets

It's difficult at times to raise a head above a parapet and speak out about something you feel is wrong; it's especially difficult when it involves crticism of fellow professionals, but there are occasions  it has to be done if you can look yourself in the eye in the mirror in the morning.

So well done Jon-Marc Creaney of GCA Architecture + Design Glasgow

http://twitter.com/#!/scarpadog/

for penning this piece for the STV News Airdrie website, about the new Community Health Centre undergoing construction.

I hope he and STV don't mind me stealing the text and his photographs. There's not a lot to disagree with in what he says. However, is it too late to stop this? And in a wider view what on earth is the purpose of Architecture + Design Scotland  if a damning Design Review results in no change to the plans?

http://local.stv.tv/airdrie/news/496-airdrie-community-health-centre/

Airdrie Community Health Centre

Local architect Jon-Marc Creaney gives STV Airdrie his view about the development of the Airdrie Community Health Centre
13 October 2010

In 2000, Airdrie gained the dubious honour of winning the Carbuncle Cup for being the most dismal town in Scotland.

Ten years on, huge sums of money have been invested in the town, millions on streetscape improvements, the award-winning and environmentally accredited business centre has been constructed, and the oldest church in Airdrie , Old Wellwynd, which lay empty for fifteen years, has been rescued and re-used through conversion into a modern community facility.

http://gcaarchitects.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/wellwynd/

Airdrie’s problems are shared with many places in Scotland; it is a former industrial town struggling to find a new identity in tough economic times, and it is a victim of poor planning and design decisions of the past few decades.

At the time it was given the Carbuncle Award, the accompanying statement was clear: This is not a criticism of the people of Airdrie, it is a criticism of the professionals who decide what does and does not happen.

This is why I feel strongly enough, as a local architect, to voice my concerns over what I perceive as a fresh mistake, the recently commenced Airdrie Community Health Centre.

The Health Centre is a welcome major investment of £27million; it will provide a wide range of primary care and community-based services under one roof in the heart of Airdrie, and bringing these services together is an opportunity to breathe further life into the town centre.

The problem begins, however, and this is where I see history repeating itself, and the potential for future criticism of the professionals involved, in the design of the proposed new building. I feel this is misconceived, in terms of a lack of civic presence, a failure of integration with the town centre, and visual appearance.

I understand fully issues of budget and design constraints in the delivery of a building of this type; however, in a building of such importance to the regeneration of the town, I believe there is a duty amongst design professionals to stick our heads above the parapet, difficult though this is, and question exactly what is being built.

The design of this building has gone through a rigorous planning process and a design assessment carried out by the government official body Architecture and Design Scotland; yet the comments and recommendations made by A&DS in its report, which heavily criticise the proposals for a lack of civic presence, have been paid barely lip service in the final design.

The architects claim, on their website, that they are a team ‘driven by design excellence’, and they are indeed an award-winning practice.

I have no doubt they will be working to a tight budget, on a challenging site, to a demanding brief. All this will have to be delivered for a ridiculously low fee. However, all this should not prevent appropriate design considerations to be a priority.

The façade of the proposed building includes large amounts of white render.This a fundamental mistake for a building situated where it is proposed; one only has to look at the problems of this material at Glasgow’s Homes of the Future, Glasgow Green, to understand the inherent difficulties posed by white render in the Scottish climate in a building situated next to a busy roundabout.

It will soon shed its bright new image and become very grimy indeed.

In addition, the facades are featureless and bland, a nod to modernism without any of its soul, and a repeat of why Scotland has so few really good modern buildings.

There is little articulation or sense of what this building could be. No doubt the designers could argue there is little local context to draw on, but that is no excuse to build something as architecturally uninspiring as the lump being torn down to make way for the new.

This building should be an exemplar of what Airdrie could achieve in future and allow it to finally shake off its Carbuncle image.

The new building does nothing to enhance or engage with the streetscape, and it turns its back on Graham Street; these issues have been raised during the design process so there is no excuse for the decision makers if this goes wrong.

I believe architects have a responsibility to the wider built environment and should not consider their designs in isolation. They should be brave enough to question the brief, to explore alternative approaches to present to clients to demonstrate how buildings can work better as part of a holistic solution rather than merely providing an envelope to house the brief.

There is a wider question of the purpose of a Design Review; why bother, if comments made are not acted upon?

A building of this civic importance should be designed as an integral part of what will become the Conservation Area of the centre of Airdrie, and designed to stand many decades into the future.

As things are, it will be lucky if it survives as long as its 1960s predecessor.

Here is the Design Assessment report from A+DS April 2009

http://www.ads.org.uk/what_we_do/design_review/reports/608_airdrie-community-health-centre-development

Introduction

This report relates to proposals submitted for Planning Approval for a development of a retail and primary care facility in Airdrie town centre. A+DS carried out an earlier Design Assessment through our Health Programme, in conjunction with the building developers, NHS Lanarkshire and the Local Authority. The Assessment report was issued on 13th November 2008 and was forwarded to the Planning Authority for guidance.

Our comments are based on a desk top analysis of the information in discussion with a member of the original A+DS Design Assessment panel and with reference to the previous Design Assessment Report.

A+DS Views

1.0 General Comments

1.1 We support the principle of locating public facilities in the centre of Airdrie, providing a major new public building and helping to reactivate the town centre.

1.2 When the design was previously assessed, our report raised a number of issues including: the lack of an entrance to the Health Centre from Graham Street; poor quality of the surrounding public spaces, particularly along the west side of the building; a confusing and functionally difficult internal layout; and a lack of a confident or unified expression in the external form.

1.3 We welcome the process of reviewing the proposals and some amendments in the submitted scheme, particularly the inclusion of a public entrance to Graham Street, and some improvements to internal wayfinding and the quality of some public areas. However, there are still a number of issues which we feel need to be addressed.

2.0 Wider Context

2.1 Community Context and Development

This part of Airdrie is set for significant change, with the development of the rail station and improvements to retail and community developments on this and adjacent sites. This important public building should become an integral part of the vision for the town. We previously recommended that the Council develop a strategic framework for spatial development and the public realm across the broader area, considering the location and nature of public routes and spaces, within which the designs for this site can be developed. If this opportunity is not taken at this stage then the town could lose the opportunities that come with the planned new developments, potentially resulting instead in a series of dislocated interventions.

2.2 Urban analysis / design statement

We note that a Design Statement has not been included in the referred documents. Without this, or an analysis of the urban grain and fabric, it is not possible to assess how the building and surrounding spaces will integrate with the town, or how design principles have been applied. There is not sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the current designs will best use the opportunities available to achieve a high standard of development.

2.3 Urban Design

2.3.1. Entrance Strategy

We welcome the introduction of an entrance to the Health Centre from Graham Street, and the omission of the overly prominent escape stair at the north east corner. However we note that the south entrance from the car park, which has been retained with a projecting lobby, still reads as the most significant. In contrast, the new entrance to the major public space to the north is smaller and recessed. Neither entrance has the sense of occasion or spatial generosity that one would expect from the entrances to a major public facility.

2.3.2. Building footprint / Lane along West side of building

We believe that there are significant opportunities to activate the areas around the building by modifications to the building line, particularly along the north and east sides. These improvements to the quality of the public realm would create a more attractive area for retailers and shoppers, maximizing the benefit of the increased footfall generated by the Health Centre. These spaces should be used to clearly direct the public to the Health Centre entrances and link into the other routes through the town.

The pedestrian access along the west elevation, which is currently a narrow and hostile alley, is also a well used route to the shopping area, and will be even more so once the Health Centre is open and the station upgraded. We acknowledge that some improvements are now proposed that address some problems of this route, with the public realm works now extended into this area. However the lane itself is still ungenerous: the addition of 600mm to the width is not really ‘significant’ as stated, and the cross section remains tight, meaning that the lane is still likely to be overshadowed and unwelcoming.

2.3.3. Form and surface of the building

The elevations have been rationalised and are more unified than previously, but this has been to the extent that they have become faceless, and still lack civic presence. We welcome the larger areas of glazing where waiting and circulation spaces have been brought to the exterior providing animation to the street. However, we feel that there are considerable opportunities to lend the building greater articulation by celebrating the entrances to the Health Centre which, particularly at Graham Street, currently appear highly underplayed. The Design Team should be more ambitious in aiming to achieve a far more confident expression to give the building a greater civic presence in line with its important public role.

There is potential for creating additional life on surrounding streets by the provision on the ground floor of shop units and the Council Social Work facility, where there are currently blank facades. However, we remain concerned that the proposals for these frontages will not necessarily create the activation as well as they should, given the unit layouts and elevations. We note the frontages appear likely to be made from standard commercial shopfronts with some areas closed off, and we would like to see a more imaginative approach that contributes positively to the streets. We have particular concerns about the introduction of the long dark brick wall along most of the east side pavement which prevents any overlooking and invites vandalism. We would suggest looking at other more varied facade proposals to resolve the issue of blank side walls to shop units facing Graham Street. Similarly we recommend solutions that can add real animation, better than using advertising panels, to deal with their side walls onto the lane, e.g. opening up the entrance lobbies visually to this side as well.

3.0 Internal Design

3.1 Plan layout in relation to entrances

There have been a number of improvements in the proposed layout, but it is still potentially confusing for many users of the building, particularly those who are not familiar with it. The inclusion of a central reception point on each floor, adjacent to the daylit open central court, is welcome, but has significant problems in being located away from the vertical circulation / entrances on the corners on the east side. There will be issues for many visitors in needing to be directed to it and then navigating the building to other receptions elsewhere. We note that staff-only areas in the north east on each floor can still only be accessed through other practice areas, which we understand need to be locked down individually.

3.2 Use of Courtyard

The central courtyard is inaccessible and isolated, and is unlikely to be a pleasant environment for rooms to look out onto. We believe that the courtyard could be better used. We are aware of similar facilities where the design has been able to resolve the demands of circulation and privacy to create a usable and pleasant place that also aids in wayfinding, daylighting and ventilation. Again, we believe that a more imaginative approach to the entrance and internal plan arrangements could achieve this, with a minimal loss of ground floor commercial area and large gains in usability.

3.3 Circulation and waiting spaces

We welcome the relocation of some waiting areas to the external facade, allowing natural light and views. However, several other waiting areas, and the majority of corridors, remain entirely internal, resulting in poor quality spaces and a lack of legibility or opportunities for orientation from within them.

3.4 Connection to Social Work offices

We note that there does not appear to be a fully accessible connection between the Social Work offices on the Ground Floor and the Health Centre above. We acknowledge that there is no current requirement for this link. However, we suggest that the inclusion of such a connection could produce great potential benefits for future flexibility and the integrated functioning of these facilities.

4.0 Sustainability

We note the intention to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ but are not clear how this will be achieved. Several occupied rooms remain entirely internal, and so will be reliant on mechanical ventilation and artificial light, with implications on build and running costs and carbon emissions. There are still opportunities that could be exploited by using the central courtyard, which would allow it to contribute to both natural daylighting and the ventilation strategy within the building, and assist in achieving the ambitious targets set.

Conclusion

We support the project in its aspiration to improve accessibility to services and in the potential of enlivening the town centre. This initiative presents a unique opportunity for the town to acquire a building and public space of civic presence and which will set the standards for surrounding developments. As currently presented the proposals do not demonstrates that this will be achieved. We encourage the Design Team to continue to develop the designs, to match the aspirations and commitments given in the Council’s own guidance ‘Designing North Lanarkshire’, the Scottish Government’s ‘Designing Places’ and the ‘Policy on Design Quality for NHS Scotland’.

We believe there are opportunities that can be taken to achieve a project of a standard that will help promote a vision for improvements in the town centre and enhance the lives of the people of Airdrie. We look forward to having the opportunity to comment on a revised scheme in the future.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/39276123/Airdrie-Elevations

Airdrie: Elevations

What has been altered as a result of that damning report? Not a great deal it appears.

Is it too late to do anything other than gnash teeth?

Probably.

Sad, but so many professionals involved in this, and it seems that lessons have still not been learned from 2000:

At the time it was given the Carbuncle Award, the accompanying statement was clear: This is not a criticism of the people of Airdrie, it is a criticism of the professionals who decide what does and does not happen.

Airdrie, futher picture gallery:

http://www.airdrie.net/weblog2/2005/03/13/photo-gallery/

Airdrie Town Trail:

http://www.monklandsheritagesociety.org.uk/page3.html


Old Wellwynd Church:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gertie_du/3295849960/in/photostream/


Nem

Cake, architecture, Edinburgh World Heritage site, poems.

The Scottish Poetry Library,  Edinburgh: Malcolm Fraser Architects

OK maybe you will disagree with the order of importance in the heading,  but Thursday 7th October 2010 is National Poetry Day.

@PoetryDayUK

http://www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk/

To mark the occasion, the Scottish Poetry Library  @ByLeavesWeLive on Twitter, which I think (well actually I know!) is my favourite post-war building, is hosting a tea party (cake!!!) at 3pm.

Tea, cake, and poetry (theme of Home) in one of Edinburgh World Heritage Site's  most iconic 20th century buildings (for the cognoscenti dahlings...) is my idea of bliss.

Cake, photo my copyright not to be reproduced without permission


I hope to be there, I hope you will be there also.

Right, the links.

Scottish Poetry Library

http://scottishpoetrylibrary.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/bookish-blog-2/

Thursday 7th October, we’ll be stopping for tea at 3pm. Although we are keen tea-drinkers, this particular tea party will be for a Higher Purpose (oh yes!) and we invite you all to join us in celebrating National Poetry Day with a cup of warming tea and a poem about our theme, ‘home.’ You can join in by coming along to our tea party at the library at 3pm, by stopping to read a poem about home wherever you are, or by tweeting @PoetryDayUK or @ByLeavesWeLive.


Postcards will be available by post from the SPL (send us a self-addressed ordinary letter size envelope with 1st or 2nd class stamp marked NPD 2010), to pick up at the SPL, and online as e-cards from 7th October. Postcards will be available from lots of other places around the country: email us at reception@spl.org.uk to find yours.

It’s been all hands on deck this week in the build up to National Poetry Day, particularly for our Reader Development Officer, Lilias Fraser, and our Education Officer, Lorna Irvine. Postcard orders for schools have now closed, resources for teachers and education professionals are up on GLOW (look for a national group called ‘poetry’) and everyone at the library would like to thank them for their hard work with a cup of tea, coffee or Earl Grey… how’s 3pm, Thursday 7th October?

Malcolm Fraser Architects

http://www.spl.org.uk/about/building.html

I look on this building as a poem that we've made together, composed from light, view, rhythm, embrace, movement, gathering, colour, texture and metaphor to express the joy of poetry, and optimism for its future within our culture.

Malcolm Fraser

Designed by Malcolm Fraser Architects, the building was financed principally by a grant from the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund. The Scottish Poetry Library has won several awards, and was shortlisted for Channel 4's Building of the Year 2000.


As well as general reading and study sections, it has facilities for listening and performing, and special children's and members' areas.

http://www.malcolmfraser.co.uk/projects/?contentid=257&parentid=248


Edinburgh World Heritage

http://www.ewht.org.uk/

A national celebration of poetry in a fantastic building in one of the most wonderful of cities. All this and cake too. How much more bliss can life hold?

Nem

A selection of past posts on similar subect matter:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/02/hug-for-poetry-and-unesco.htmlunesco.html

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/02/edinburgh-old-and-new.html

Love Me Do...

Post updated 17th September: Secretary of State Eric Pickles joins the campaign!

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/09/16/secretary-of-state-eric-pickles-weighs-into-liverpool-welsh-streets-row-100252-27277819/

As for Mary Huxham, I'd suggest that if you don't want to live there don't, but others do.

Mary Huxham - Liverpool Welsh Streets from ciara leeming on Vimeo.

If you remove the gloss paint from the walls, and ensure the building can breathe in other ways, eg lime mortar (see SPAB for how to make that work) you might find the claimed damp disappears.

As for the claim of £150,000 to renovate? I doubt that very much! It's so much hogwash.


Post updated 2pm 9th Sept Latest SAVE News, with details of this, the wider Pathfinder and other SAVE campaigns:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/docs//newsletter%20april%2010%20final.pdf


PRESS RELEASE 9 SEPTEMBER 2010

SAVE IN DRAMATIC BID TO LIST BEATLES HOUSES

AS BULLDOZERS CLOSE IN ON RINGO STARR’S CHILDHOOD HOME, SAVE AND THE MERSEYSIDE CIVIC SOCIETY APPEAL FOR THE IMMEDIATE GROUP LISTING OF BEATLES HOUSES

National preservation charity SAVE Britain’s Heritage has joined forces with the Merseyside Civic Society (MCS) to apply for the listing of 9 Madryn Street, Liverpool, the birthplace and childhood home of the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, together with five other buildings in Liverpool with intimate connections to the Beatles. The appeal comes in response to the City council’s bid to demolish Ringo’s birthplace in the Welsh Streets area of the city. Currently, none of the former Beatles homes in the city are listed, although two houses are owned and operated by the National Trust.

9 Madryn Street, where Ringo was born and lived until he was four, is earmarked for clearance as part of the government’s controversial Housing Market Renewal (Pathfinder) Initiative, described by the Urban Task Force as a 'crude, insensitive and wasteful' return to mass housing clearance, and criticised as ‘high risk’ by the National Audit Office. The programme has already resulted in the demolition of large swathes of northern towns and cities, leaving communities decimated and whole neighbourhoods destroyed.

Nowhere has this insensitivity and waste been more apparent than on Merseyside where entire districts of the well planned Victorian and Edwardian inner suburbs of Liverpool, a UNESCO World Heritage city, have been laid waste by blight imposed at immense public expense. Edge Hill, Toxteth, Kensington and Anfield have been subject to long term land banking, with communities, businesses and urban fabric forced to make way for acre after acre of vacant lots.

SAVE and the local Civic Society are calling for the immediate listing of Madryn Street, together with 10 Admiral Grove, Ringo’s subsequent childhood home; 12 Arnold Grove, the birthplace of George Harrison; Mendips, Menlove Avenue, where John Lennon lived from 1945 to 1963; 20 Forthlin Road, childhood home of Paul McCartney, and the ornate iron gates and stone piers of Strawberry Field, all that remains of the house and gardens which inspired one of the Beatles’ most famous songs.

William Palin, Secretary of SAVE says ‘This is a bid for national recognition and statutory protection for a group of buildings which are intimately associated with the four men who, together, became the greatest cultural phenomenon of the 20th century.

‘In 1973, Liverpool’s celebrated Cavern Club, birthplace of the Beatles, was demolished because of a council compulsory purchase order, to make room for a ventilation shaft that was never built. The destruction of Madryn Street would represent another tragic loss and a further assault on the heart and spirit of the city.’

‘It is astonishing and distressing that Liverpool City Council retains such a callous disregard for its cultural heritage, and sad that it should fall to organisations such as SAVE and the MCS to protect and promote buildings within the city that have such huge historic and socio-economic importance.’

Marcus Binney, President of SAVE says ‘From the very start of listing in 1945 the Act provided for listing buildings for their special historic interest as well as their architectural quality. The earliest guidelines for listing specifically mention buildings which are associated in the public mind with famous people. The Liverpool sites associated with the Beatles including their childhood homes are clearly of the strongest interest to the British public as witnessed by the thousands of visitors to the Beatles homes owned by the National Trust’.

Merseyside Civic Society planner Jonathan Brown says: ‘20th-century Liverpool and its port helped shape the Beatles phenomenon; in the 21st century their global stardom illuminates Liverpool’s place on the world stage.’

‘The international public have an almighty appetite for sites and buildings associated with the band’s early story, a blessing city authorities have been slow to acknowledge.’

‘If allowed, demolition of their homes and birthplaces will eclipse loss of the Cavern Club as an act of crass cultural vandalism. In fact, it would be far less forgivable, because of what we now know about the importance of music and tourism to economic revival. We appeal to the Secretary of State to stop the bulldozers unleashed by Mr Prescott’.

‘Of course, the listing application is about much more than the birthplaces of four individuals; it is also about protecting the inner city communities of Liverpool from being sold out to narrow developer interests by public officials. The Pathfinder clearances have wiped out swathes of entire historic districts like Edge Hill, Anfield, Bootle and Toxteth; demolition of Beatles’ heritage is just a symptom of the scheme’s indifference to social values beyond land assembly.’


NOTES

SAVE and the MCS have written to English Heritage to request the listing of the following buildings at Grade II:


9 Madryn Street, Liverpool, L8

The birthplace of drummer Richard Starkey (b. 7.7.1940), best known by his stage name, Ringo Starr (coined when he joined the Beatles in 1962). He lived here until the age of four.

The building is a two-bay, two-up two-down ‘back of pavement’ terraced house in the ‘Welsh Streets’ area of Toxteth, Liverpool developed in the late 19th-century to house migrant Welsh workers, most of whom were employed in the building trades.

The house and the area have been often recalled by Ringo during his career. ‘I was born at Number 9 Madryn Street, Liverpool 8’ are the highlighted first words in his section of the Beatles Anthology, the band's authorised autobiography. And his valedictory solo album Liverpool 8 features the single Liverpool I Love You and the lyric ‘Said goodbye to Madryn Street’. The house is visited daily by coach tours on the city’s Beatles trail, and plans for its demolition have attracted international press attention.

Photo: Marc Loudoun

10 Admiral Grove, Liverpool, L8

Ringo’s single Liverpool I Left You also referred to this house where he lived after moving from Madryn Street: ‘Liverpool I left you, said goodbye to Admiral Grove’. Two-bay, two-up two-down ‘back of pavement’ terraced house.

12 Arnold Grove, Liverpool, L15

The birthplace of Beatles guitarist George Harrison (b. 25.2.1943 d. 29.11.2001). He lived here for the first six years of his life. A two-bay, two-up two-down ‘back of pavement’ terraced house close to the iconic Penny Lane.

Photo: Mark Getty

Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool, L25

This semi-detached house, built in 1933, was the childhood home of John Lennon (b. 1940) from 1945-1963. It is recorded with a blue EH plaque. Lennon lived at Mendips with his Aunt Mimi after the separation of his parents. He was here during the formative Beatles years, and a number of early songs were composed at Mendips with Paul McCartney. It is now owned by the National Trust and, like Forthlin Road, is a successful tourist attraction.

Photo: Mark Getty


20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool, L24

This semi-detatched post-war council house in Allerton was the childhood home of Paul McCartney (b. 1942) from 1955. It is owned by the National Trust and is a successful tourist attraction. John Lennon and Paul McCartney are known to have composed and practiced here.

Photo: Mark Getty

Strawberry Field, Beaconsfield Road, Liverpool, L25

Ornate iron gates and stone piers of 19th-century Gothic villa and gardens demolished c.1970, immortalised by Strawberry Fields Forever, one of the Beatle’s most famous songs, written by John Lennon in 1966.

Photo: Mark Getty

SAVE Britain’s Heritage has been campaigning for historic buildings since its formation in 1975 by a group of architects, journalists and planners. It is a strong, independent voice in conservation, free to respond rapidly to emergencies and to speak out loud for the historic built environment.

SAVE has been one of the strongest critics of the demolitions proposed as part of the government’s Housing Market Renewal (Pathfinder) Initiative. SAVE’s hard-hitting report on Pathfinder, published in 2006, highlighted the devastating effects of these clearances on both the communities and the architectural cohesion of towns and cities. SAVE has also drawn attention to wastefulness of demolition. SAVE’s position has been vindicated by a report by the Commons Committee of Public Accounts published in June 2008. The report warns of ‘…a risk that demolition sites, rather than newly built houses, will be the Programme’s legacy’ and concludes that ‘the needs of those who wish to remain in an area should not be overlooked in developing more mixed and sustainable communities.’

SAVE continues to support communities threatened by Pathfinder clearances and highlight the social, and environmental cost of demolitions. Its latest report, Reviving Britain’s Terraces: Life after Pathfinder, SAVE has teamed up with architect Mark Hines to look at how housing earmarked for demolition can be adapted, upgraded and remodelled to a high standard of energy efficiency, creating a range of accommodation and forming exemplar 'eco-communities' of the future. For more information and to purchase the report, visit the SAVE website

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/

For more information contact:

William Palin (Secretary), SAVE Britain’s Heritage, 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ. Tel: 020 7253 3500. Email: office@savebritainsheritage.org

Merseyside Civic Society was established in 1938 out of a concern for the built environment of the Liverpool City region. As a registered charity, the Society is dedicated both to preserving and celebrating our rich built heritage, and to campaigning for new schemes to be of the very highest standard. Membership of the Society is open to anyone sharing these ideals.

For more information contact:

Jonathan Brown

www.liv.ac.uk/mcs/mcshome.html


The Save Madryn Street Facebook Campaign: http://www.savemadrynstreet.co.uk/

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY SAVE Britain’s Heritage, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ. Registered Charity 269129

See also the blog and website of EMPTY HOMES  @emptyhomes :

http://www.emptyhomes.com/

the national charity which campaigns for the re-use of empty homes; it too has been campaigning to stop the demolition of the Welsh Streets and other wasteful demolitions. In a country where there is a desperate shortage of housing, and a housing market which has collapsed, it makes no sense to demolish houses which are capable of re-occupation with a small amount of cash and effort.

http://unlockingthepotential.blogspot.com/2010/09/last-days-of-welsh-streets.html

http://unlockingthepotential.blogspot.com/2010/08/last-chance-to-save-welsh-streets.html

For every two families that need a home there is one property standing empty. This isn't just inefficient it's unjust



Nina Edge - Liverpool Welsh Streets from ciara leeming on Vimeo.

Nina Edge is fighting to save her beautiful Victorian villa on Kelvin Grove, in Liverpool’s Toxteth neighbourhood, from the bulldozers. The house, along with all the other properties on her side of the street, is down for clearance under L8′s controversial Welsh Streets regeneration scheme, a Housing Market Renewal-funded project which aims to tackle what the authorities say is a failing housing market. The grand houses on Edge’s street have been lumped into a demolition scheme which mainly deals with small two-up, two-down terraces, and which will create a tempting plot of land for future redevelopment. Edge is convinced there would be demand for the houses on her street if the market was allowed to operate normally, and believes the other homes could also be saved and refurbished to a decent standard using modern techniques. More than five years after demolition was agreed in principle by Liverpool council, there has been no CPO and little substantial progress.

Another view:

http://www.liverpoolcultureblog.co.uk/2008/07/ringo-and-liverpool-saying-goodbye-to-madryn-street/comment-page-1/#comment-986

Past post on Pathfinder and Liverpool:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/02/elizabeth-pascoe-is-finally-evicted.html

More from Elizabeth Pascoe:




To take people's homes, for no good reason, is despicable... Elizabeth Pascoe


 Nem

Duanyising Britain

A view of the future?

The Expo I have more to write about; for today, a slight diversion, and it's linked.  I point in the direction of two thought-provoking articles in Scottish Review on Andres Duany, DPZ, and his  work for the Scottish Government.

The articles focus particularly on the Design Charette at Lochgelly, which was attended by the writer, Andrew Gray. Here's a video on the STV website and a report from last March

'Lochgelly? perhaps a kind of Scottish Truman Show'  quote from Duany

'Truman show' town planner turns sights on Lochgelly

VIDEO: Andres Duany, who designed the idyllic Florida film set, is aiming to transform a former Fife mining town.

http://video.stv.tv/?bcpid=37654293001&bctid=71010766001
 
 http://news.stv.tv/scotland/east-central/162464-truman-show-town-planner-turns-sights-on-lochgelly/

As it states in Scottish Review:  In March this year the Scottish Government supported an American urban design firm Duany Plater-Zyberk to promote its brand of ‘New Urbanism’ in Scotland – as part of the government’s aspiration for the re-invention in Scotland of ‘traditional qualities of place’ and ‘traditional architecture’. Following Duany Plater-Zyberk to one of its three destinations in Scotland, the Fife town of Lochgelly, Andrew Guest asks what was learnt from this expensive exercise, why it was necessary for Americans to teach us how we should be developing our towns, and what are the implications of government support for ‘traditional architecture’ in 21st century Scotland.


Part 1:

Re-inventing Scotland

http://www.scottishreview.net/AndrewGuest14.shtml


Part 2:

Welcome to the past

http://www.scottishreview.net/AndrewGuest15.shtml


Concluding paragraphs:

Most places already own a wealth of cultural, social and creative skills which could contribute to this process – especially if supported by local and national authority. We don't need a team of outside experts to do this for us. We already have our own immense knowledge of historical and traditional architectural traditions if we want to draw on these to inform new design solutions for new communities – we don't need to rely on an outsider's sentimental view of what Scottish architecture was or could be. Past experience and tradition is important but so is interpreting this with new ideas and new experience today, and Scotland has a substantial reservoir of its own design talents and plenty recent design experience with which to do this. If it is invidious for the Scottish Government to back this expertise to lead a programme to promote better design, then perhaps that was not the right programme, or the government should not be taking this particular lead.


But above all a superficial nostalgia for a past ideal of community should not prevent us from facing up to the multi-sided challenges of urbanisation and sustainability in Scotland in the 21st century and from engaging creatively and openly in a process that asks 'What kind of places do we want?' and 'Who will they be for?' One of the accusations against modernism is that it relied on aesthetic solutions to deal with the social problems it encountered – one result of which was that everywhere ending up looking the same, and mostly pretty dull. Scotland is in danger of planning the next 50 years pursuing another false aesthetic ideal – an un-debated ideal of the traditional – the result of which will be another form of destructive monotony.

Andrew Guest lives in Edinburgh and writes on culture and the environment.
 
And hooray.


Urban Realm comments are interesting here:

http://www.urbanrealm.co.uk/news/2225/Duany_puts_some_welly_into_Lochgelly_.html

and another video.

Link to the official charette site:

http://www.scotlandcharrettelochgelly.co.uk/about/

I gather Urban Realm has invited Duany to speak at a debate in October in Glasgow.  I expect that there will several architects with passionate views on 'Prince Charles urbanism' or 'shortbread tin Scotland'  willing to tackle him on the subject of 'traditional Scottish architecture' and its place in a 21st century Scotland.
 
My view is that Duany's views on urban planning may be the greatest thing to hit Scotland since Irn Bru; I cannot comment on that.  His views on architecture, however,  may not. My view is that possibly they are not.

Lochgelly, a proposal, from the Duany charette.

It's not only Scotland of course. For example, Duany and his brand of 'New Urbanism' is being imported to Norfolk:

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/eveningnews24/norwich-news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=xNews&itemid=NOED13%20Jul%202010%2022%3A42%3A20%3A250

Thorpe residents slammed for lack of vision

DAVID BALE

 14/07/2010


Extract:


An American planner has set out his vision for a new village on the outskirts of Norwich - and it incorporates ideas from north Norfolk, Norwich city centre and even colonial America.

Architect and urban planner Andres Duany, of urban planning firm DPZ, is best-known for creating the feted Sea-side town in Florida, which featured as the backdrop to the film The Truman Show.

His plans to build 631 new homes at a woodland site off Plumstead Road, Pound Lane and near Salhouse Road in Thorpe St Andrew are equally revolutionary.

His vision is to keep many of the trees on the site with more than 50pc open spaces, but also to add urban living based on Burnham Market's Green, The Crescent, off Chapel Field Road, and housing developments in South Carolina.

Last night's public meeting in central Norwich was part of the innovative design process called a 'charrette' or sometimes enquiry by design, which is aimed at involving the community in the planning process from the start.

It was the final presentation after an intensive eight days of consultation in the area, which included a stormy meeting at Thorpe Village Hall where residents gave a resounding 'NO' to the plans...

and I note a group of  residents is fighting back:

http://savethorpewoodlands.blogspot.com/p/charrette-or-charade-can-we-save.html

The website also features Lochgelly. Interesting read.  I also note Duany spoke for one and  half hours, but didn't take questions.

Throughout the Charrette, Duany and his team said they were interested in the views of the people who live in Thorpe, and those who neighbour the woods. However earlier this year, in front of an audience of journalists at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge Massachusetts, Duany put forward the case that the planning process needed to be reformed as it has been usurped by the public, and especially by those people who neighbour the site of the proposed development. He argued consultation should not be with the public in general and especially the locals, instead it should consist of a controlled consultation with a selected group of local citizens, he stated that if this isn’t done the process is taken over by "a bunch of little mobs, invited in by idiot public planners."


Duany has been criticised by members of his own profession.

The April edition of the Architects Journal published an article entitled “Scottish architects fry new urbanist Duany” it stated that “American new urbanist Andres Duany has sparked protests from Scottish architects after alleging the country had not built any housing to be proud of since 1945”.

In the article Duany’s position is criticised by fellow architects as being “ill informed”, Peter Wilson, director of Edinburgh Napier University’s Wood Studio, said Duany’s ‘twee way of viewing Scotland’ was to blame. ‘He does all these charrettes at a great expense and then expects everything to look like small Scottish town Dunkeld’ In Thorpe’s case for Dunkeld read Burnham Market.

The above shows that the Charrette process is being cynically used by developers as a means to convince local people that opposing a development would be futile, that the proposal is a ‘done deal’ and that if the local people don’t work with the developer they may end up with something far worse...

Our local councillors have opposed these plans and our local MP Chloe Smith has written to Broadland District Council’s planning department to draw their attention to the strong local opposition to these proposals.

...The destruction of these woods is not a done deal, the local people of Thorpe, who Andres Duany may view as a ‘little mob’, can stop this development and save the woods and its rich wildlife for today and for future generations...

And here is part of my worry; that Duany and his 'design team' is now being hired by developers to give the gloss (and perhaps glitz) of respectability and 'consultation' to schemes which otherwise could prove contentious.

Is this the 'urban planning' version of hiring an 'internationally known  architect' (or his/her practice) to build an 'iconic building', a sure way to override all manner of planning policies and objections?

Is he the Messiah, or simply someone hired to do a job, and making a tidy sum out of it?

Linked past post:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/12/old-new-towns-new-old-towns.html

Glancey in the Guardian, Dec 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/dec/03/architecture-design


Thou shalt not follow Duany's architectural gospel

British postwar architects have nothing to repent - it is Andres Duany's bland new urbanism that we must be saved from...

Poundbury


Nem

Scottish Housing Expo 2010 Inverness

 The planned but so far not executed 'garden' of one of Malcolm Fraser Architects designs for the 2010 Scottish Housing Expo, Inverness. 'Minimalist'? Certainly is! Doesn't so far exist... although the accompanying houses do. Not all houses at the Expo are completed or even as yet built. Plots 22 and 27, which, while not perfect,  are at least amongst those which could actually sensibly be lived in by real people, and be attractive to 'volume' developers,  although without the architectural pretension of some.  The unfinished garden is a victim of, and possibly a metaphor for, the Expo problems.  Click pics to enlarge... a second click will enlarge even further, but use the 'back' button to get back to the page or you will lose the post.

Details:
http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/index.php

Pictures:
http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/plot_updates.php


http://ht.ly/2vUNc


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=198911&id=164636957634&l=973ac1125e

This week, I visited the Scottish Housing Expo, aka the Highland Housing Expo, Inverness.  It was a bizarre experience. I have no doubt in years to come it all will be Listed by Historic Scotland, and visited as Portmerion is as something slightly surreal. Certainly it is a very unsettlingly strange place indeed. What is worrying is that some think it all a great success, and are considering repeating this all over Scotland. It's no way to plan for the future...




I would love to take a number of the architects involved through their buildings, and point out exactly what would make them difficult/impossible/improbable/greenwashery /unsustainable to live in. If I really had to, there is only a handful of houses I would be willing move into. Maybe I will blog more when it isn't so raw and immediate and actually, upsetting. Next week possibly...  I might be a little more coherent about it then. And by then some architects might have realised that a house where a scaffold tower is needed to change a lightbulb isn't really very practical. One 'grand gesture' house, with its upstairs all-in-one kitchen/dining/living area, too small to sensibly accommodate the number of people a four bedroomed house will require, appeared to have nowhere to put a washing machine. There were kitchens without enough workspace to sensibly prepare a meal and some which would have been dangerous to work in. From the macro to the micro level, so much could have been better.

I so wanted to find this a positive experience. I didn't. I do appreciate all the problems, the delays caused by the market downturn, the terrible winter, and all the rest.  How I wish I could get a group of non-architect folk to sit with  some of the architects and developers and discuss what makes a home for normal families which isn't 'wanky wilful shapemaking' to paraphrase one involved, what is a decent amount of space in which to live, and what makes for an affordable, sustainable future. I would love to talk to the  Scottish Housing Minister  and do likewise. I do appreciate that architects had a brief to which to work, and that all have constraints. But hey, couldn't we all learn from this?

I'd also love to be able to write about it all in the architectural press, but alas I doubt anyone will ask me.  So far very little attention has been paid, apart from Building Design, and of that, well, it's been a little banal and focused not really on the diverse and important issues this has raised. 

A few architects, from the renowned to the 'local', showed they had some idea. However, from the possibly internationally known to the emerging and thrusting, and the small and established but not nationally known, too few understood what makes a home, as opposed to an architectural gesture, and what is really sensibly, affordably sustainable.

And then there were the Rabbit Hutches...  it seems the less well off don't deserve decent living space. An atrium and a mezzanine may give the illusion of space, but don't compensate for tiny rooms, especially bedrooms.

Parker-Morris, we need you now.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Morris_Committee

Large areas of glass, too, featured in rooms which were overlooked... as one visitor remarked,  "Some of these architects must have shares in a curtain factory!"

Anyhow, the Expo ends at the end of August. Wish I had taken two days to visit as there wasn't enough time in one. The cake in the marquee was wonderful. The Portaloos were clean and more than adequate.

But it's Scotland, so really, in the wider world, no-one gives a fuck. The architectural press is all off at the Venice Biennale, and that's much more exciting and important than global warming and the future of housing, isn't it? Had this taken place in the south of England, so much would have been written about it, but it was Inverness, and beyond Nottingham Contemporary all is a barren waste, it seems, where none dare to venture.

Meanwhile, some views on youtube of the exteriors of some, and very odd bunch they are, lumped together, but let's face it: we mostly live in interiors. And there lies much of the problem.

The first tranche of houses for sale prices:

http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/houses.php

For private sale plots: 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27 contact


Rettie & Co on tel: 0845 220 6565 or email: scotlandshousingexpo@rettie.co.uk

or visit www.highlandhousingalliance.com/expo

Plot 7 – Guide Price £ 300,000


Plot 9.2 – Guide Price £ 220,000


Plot 17 – Offers Over £ 300,000


Plot 18 – Offers Over £ 350,000


Plot 26.1 – Guide Price £ 230,000

 I leave the reader to work out how affordable this is to many, and if this Expo served the needs of the public and a sustainable future, or was more about the architects and developers.  It's certainly going to be a 'mixed' community, when and if the houses and flats are eventually fully occupied; it remains to be seen if it ever becomes a genuine community.


(movies by Abbozzo Architects)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz1H5E0tuW8



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFyrzFwcjMA&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdhK6DazFA4&feature=related


Nem

A Vision of Harmony...

I've been a tad remiss in blogging of late, and in the interim I note Blogger has been updating features and thankfully has restored a spellcheck.

However, back now, and  I hope readers of the Republic will enjoy this:



Real Estate from Jonathan Weston on Vimeo.


http://vimeo.com/12690053

As it says on the tin:

This animation sardonically shows what happens when real life infects the imagery of a glossy property advert. Exploiting the familiar style of architectural visualisation, the film tracks the advert’s increasingly reactionary responses to escalating urban events.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia

As Wiki says:

Utopia (pronounced /juːˈtoʊpiə/) is a name for an ideal community or society, which is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic...

...Utopia is largely based on Plato's Republic. It is a perfect version of Republic wherein the beauties of society reign (eg: equality and a general pacifist attitude), although its citizens are all ready to fight if need be.

 A bird's eye view of a (Utopian) community in New Harmony, Indiana, United States, as proposed by Robert Owen. Engraving by F. Bate, London 1838.

Inscribed at bottom of plate: A Bird's Eye View of a Community, as proposed by Robert Owen Esq.re is respectfully dedicated to the following classes of society: To the Landowners, as being the only means whereby their Estates can be rendered permanently productive, and their Rents secure. To the Capitalists, as offering the safest speculation, and most gratifying ways of investing their surplus Capital, without risk of failure. To the Clergy, and Instructors of Mankind, as the only and speedy means of bringing about that great desideratum they have so much at heart, namely, the suppression of Vice & Error, by the removal of the causes of Crime (Ignorance & Poverty), the dissemination of Truth, & the establishment of Virtue. To the industrious Wealth Producers, as affording the only arrangements, whereby they can secure their true and rightful position in Society, and the just & honest participation in the Wealth created by their talents and industry. And lastly, to the Government of the British Empire, shewing the arrangements, whereby the duties of Government may be rendered safe, easy, and delightful, instead of as heretofore, being one of danger, difficulty, error, confusion and disatisfaction. N.B. for further details consult the Works of Owen, Thompson, Combe, Morgan &c. Sold with a woodengraving of the same scene.


Date London 1838.


Source Drawn and engraved by F. Bate. Published by "The Association of all Classes of all Nations", at their institution, 69, Great Queen Street. Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, 1838.

More of Harmony and New Harmony here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Harmony,_Indiana

and for those with an interest in architecture (which is why you are reading this, right?)

http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/whitwell.htm

Extract

DESCRIPTION OF AN ARCHITECTURAL MODEL....


Stedman Whitwell

Description of an Architectural Model From a Design by Stedman Whitwell, Esq. for a Community Upon a Principle of United Interests, as Advocated by Robert Owen, Esq. (London: Hurst Chance & Co.: 1830).


Thomas Stedman Whitwell (1784-1840), born in Coventry, England, moved to London as early as 1806 when he exhibited his work at the Royal Academy. Five years later he evidently worked in the Architect's Office at the London Docks. Sometime after this he returned to Coventry where there and in Birmingham he drew the plans for several public buildings. Whitwell apparently did not enjoy a thriving practice, and his reputation received a blow when one of his buildings, the Brunswick Theatre in London's Whitechapel district collapsed just a few days after it had been completed. In 1819 Whitwell designed one large-scale project near Leamington Spa that was never undertaken.


Whether he volunteered to prepare the plan illustrating Robert Owen's concept of a communitarian town or was recruited for this purpose by Owen is not known. Whitwell accompanied Owen to America on his second trip in 1825, bringing with him a six-foot square model of the town as described in the document below. Owen succeeded in gaining permission from President John Quincy Adams to display the model in the White House. Whitwell lived for a short time in New Harmony, Indiana, the Rappite community that Owen purchased as the site for his model society. Not long after his arrival he began to criticize some of the leaders of the venture and to spread gossip about them. His only contribution, if it can be called that, was a system of naming places by converting degrees, and minutes of latitude and longitude to letters of the alphabet. Thus, a near-by off-shoot of the New Harmony community that Whitwell joined received the name Feiba Peveli. In this system, New York (40 degrees, 43 minutes N and 73 degrees 59 minutes W) becomes Otke Notive!


In addition to the small illustration and its key reproduced in this pamphlet of 1830, the perspective of his design was separately published on a much larger scale. Doubtless this was issued in 1825 and may have been distributed at the time the model was displayed. By the time the document below was published in 1830 the New Harmony experiment had disintegrated as residents left or split into factions. Nevertheless, Owen may have felt that another effort should be made to put his plan into effect in England, or perhaps Whitwell remained a faithful believer in the concept and independently issued his pamphlet. Owen himself would still be advocating his village plan in 1841 in a publication proposing the development of "self-supporting Home Colonies" in England.

And this vision of a Utopian community included the following:

Extent and Position.

The area of ground occupied by the Buildings, Promenades, and Gardens of the Establishment would be about thirty-three acres; that of the enclosed quadrangle twenty-two acres, nearly three times as large as Russell Square.

It is proposed that one of the diagonal lines of the square should be so placed as to coincide with a meridian, and, if possible, to range with some remarkable points or objects of the distant country. This would ensure an equal distribution of light and darkness, sun and shadow among the occupants of every part of the edifice; and be convenient for astronomical and geographical reference.

It is desirable in most cases that the scite of land selected for this purpose, should be in the vicinity of a stream, ample enough to supply the domestic purposes of the establishment, to secure its drainage, and furnish power sufficient for the mills and other manufactories necessary or convenient for the accommodation and prosperity of the inhabitants.

General Arrangements.

The Building to be disposed in a quadrangle measuring one thousand feet on each side; divided

Externally, into

Dwelling houses,

Central public buildings,

Angle ditto

Internally are disposed the

Baths,

Public Refectories,

Kitchens, Breweries, &c.

Stores, Offices, &c.

Botanic Gardens.

Gymnasiums.
surrounded by a Cloister or covered Arcade for general communication.

Arrangements of the Dwelling Houses.
The dwelling houses are situated on the extended lines, between the central and angle buildings, upon each side of the quadrangle; and occupy the ground and the first floor stories, they are divided into two sets of a Sitting room, Chamber, and Water closet each. They have ready and convenient access to the offices, by means of Covered ways, at a lower level than the general entrance from the Esplanade; these form also the separate and private entrances to the Cloister or Arcade surrounding the whole interior of the quadrangle; and by means of Bridges of communication, over the Covered ways before-named, connect the staircase of each house with the Terrace over the cloister, forming a general access from every house to every part of the establishment.

The Dormitories.
The ranges of apartments over the dwelling houses, are proposed to be occupied as Dormitories or Sleeping rooms, for unmarried persons and children; having no connection with the dwelling or private houses below them. They are approached from the great staircases in the central and angle buildings. This story is so contrived that the whole, or any part of it may, at any time be thrown into vast apartments, or be subdivided into chambers of the most minute dimensions.


Temperature of the Interior----Ventilation----Light----Supply of Water----Drainage----Basement
The whole of the Interior, but most particularly the Dwelling houses, to be warmed and ventilated upon the most improved principle, and the temperature maintained at an agreeable degree of heat in the coldest and most variable seasons, by means of Air-warmers; the whole of which, with the arrangements for the service of hot and cold water to each apartment, at all hours, the lighting with gas, and other scientific means of reducing domestic labour, to be constructed in the general basement, which extends under the entire range and over the whole extent of the Buildings; Access to which is obtained from the central and angle buildings, so that it may have no connection with the dwelling houses.

Central and Angle Buildings----Staircases.
The central buildings are occupied on the ground or terrace floor, by the grand entrances to the quadrangle, and in these and the angle buildings, are the great staircases communicating on each side with the dormitories, over the private apartments, and the Public rooms contained in these Buildings.


Public Rooms in the Centres and Angles.
In these buildings are contained the Libraries, Museums of Natural History, &c. Theatre for Lectures, Exhibitions, Ball and Concert Room, Reading Rooms, Conversation Rooms, Rooms of Management, &c. &c.


Central Public Buildings inside Quadrangle----Offices, &c.----Public Refectories.
Passing through each of the grand Entrances, a raised Platform, with which the Cloisters are connected, leads to the central public buildings within the quadrangle. the Hall or Vestibule of which is approached by flights of stone steps of large extent. On each side the Vestibule are disposed the Dining Apartments for infants and children; the Vestibule itself leading to the great Hall or Public Refectory, a noble and extensive Saloon, open to the roof, lighted by seven lofty windows on each side, and in which every means of reducing the labour of service is proposed to be adopted: particularly the service of the dinner, &c. from the public Kitchens under the Refectory, this is proposed to be performed by mechanical means, in a rapid, quiet, and cleanly manner; the different utensils removed by the same process; and the apparatus to present, in the Refectories, the appearance of handsome sideboards in recesses.

The most perfect System of Ventilation, so important in Apartments of this description, is proposed to be introduced.

In the rear of the refectory, and opening to it, are rooms for the glass, table linen, spices, and other condiments, &c. &c.

Basement----Sub­way to Basement.
The Basement is approached by inclined planes, leading under the principal carriage entrance to the public Kitchens, and Store Departments. This entrance or approach is sufficiently capacious for the admission of carts, &c. to supply the various kitchens, stores, breweries, gas works, &c. &c. all of which are concentrated near these four central points, from them branch off railways, meeting each other, and forming one complete circuit of communication throughout the whole establishment, on which carriages will convey the supply of fuel, provisions, &c. to the different depôts, without interference with the dressed grounds, Esplanade, or with the dwelling part of the establishment, and by the same Routes all refuse material is removed.

In the Basement of the Inner Central Buildings, under the great hall and refectories, are the public Kitchens, Sculleries, Larders, Offices for the distribution of stores, &c. &c. and around the bases of the towers are disposed the Breweries, Gas-works, Wash-houses, Laundries, Steam works, for the supply of the kitchen, &c. and other apparatus for carrying away all smoke, and vapour, the whole of which is collected at these points, and carried upwards through the great shafts of the towers; means of access to any part of which for necessary repairs, cleansing, &c. can at all times be had, and spacious accommodation for those so employed.

The vaults for the stowage of malt liquors, fuel, and other heavy stores, are of extensive and spacious dimensions, and situated in the vicinity of those places where their service is most immediately required.

Towers----Illuminated Dials----Distribution of Light from the Towers.
The towers which rise from the four internal central buildings, are intended. (in addition to their uses as stated above,) to form observatories, and for that purpose a commodious spiral staircase surrounds each of them, springing from the roof of the rear building, which is designed as their base. About midway upon each shaft, are placed dials, illuminated at night by gas, visible at all hours in all parts of the internal area and buildings. The gallery which forms the observatory upon each tower, immediately surmounts the parapet of the same, which parapet is pierced with a series of arched openings, at the back of each of which powerful reflectors are places; gas burners being introduced here, the light is distributed downwards, in all directions, and the space between the corbels supporting the parapet is left open for the same purpose. by these means, independent of any other light, that from the towers will be sufficient to illuminate the whole Quadrangle and the rooms which look into it, and these four points will be from their elevation, (about two hundred feet,) so many beacons to the surrounding country, marking distinctly the position of the building to a very great distance.

Cloister or Arcade, and its Terrace.
This runs round the whole internal area, and forms the boundary of the gardens; on the ground it will be a kind of continued alcove, surmounted by a terrace of the same extent, both furnished with seats, and serving as delightful places, either for retirement from bad weather, or for social purposes. From the arcade and terrace a direct communication is made to every part, particularly to the baths, gymnasiums, and gardens. It will be observed, that by means of the cloisters surrounding the inner quadrangle, the most perfect communication can be maintained with every part of the establishment in bad weather, without exposure; while the terrace over it affords equal access, and a delightful promenade, under more favourable circumstances.

Gymnasiums.
The angles of the inner area of the quadrangle are occupied by the gymnasiums for the Infants, Children and Youth of the community, and for the Convalescents of the Infirmary; these are accessible by covered ways, from the cloisters and alcoves at the angles of the building.

Baths.
To each of the four main divisions of the general buildings are annexed warm and cold baths, for the separate accommodation of the male and female members of the community. These distinct buildings are placed on each side the central internal public buildings, and are approached by the covered ways from the cloisters, and the terrace over them. These baths will contain accommodations of a novel and peculiar character, uniting the privacy of retirement with the exercise of extensive general baths.

Pleasure Gardens----Conservatory.
The quadrangle is intended to be laid out in shrubberies, flower gardens, and pleasure grounds, scientifically arranged, that the gratifications of the garden may be combined with new accessions of information, and the means of inculcating precepts of order at every step. The walks to be so disposed that each shall form a vista, terminating with some object of part of the building, of a varied and pleasing character; the centre of the grounds to be occupied by a Conservatory, of about one hundred feet in diameter, for the reception and cultivation of exotics, to be warmed and fitted up upon an improved and novel plan.

The Esplanade and Approaches.
The Esplanade surrounding the general edifice to be one hundred feet wide, and laid out in lawns, and other pleasure grounds, with a Promenade, defended by a parapet, and overlooking the surrounding scenery of the Establishment and country. This Esplanade it is proposed to elevate above the level of the adjoining land, and to connect it, by means of a wide and gently ascending road, forming an Approach for carriages, &c. proceeding to the establishment. Steps of communication will present themselves at every angle, and at other convenient points of the Esplanade. The four fronts of the whole structure to be furnished with fruit trees, trained upon trellis, and the tract of land upon which the establishment is place to be cultivated for agricultural purposes, for the supply of the community; regard being had to preserve a picturesque effect, as far as the interests of the establishment will permit.

Not a successful venture.  Nuff said. But without ideals and idealism, where would the world be?

Owen's earlier New Lanark, Scotland, however, is now a World Heritage Site.  Possibly not Utopia, though an interesting place to visit. But that's for another blog, and picture gallery.

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lanark/newlanark/history1.html


Nem