Saint Enoch Square redevelopment

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Postby james73 » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:56 pm

My Kitten wrote:Maybe the re-development will get rid of this then

Image

Image

Image

This was today, peak holiday season, tourists and bird shite.

Sorry bout the blurry pics my battery was dying :(

:evil: Disgraceful - a little less paper shuffling and a little more arses-in-gear is needed.



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Postby glasgowken » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:19 pm

Inspired, the architect must have worked all of ten minutes to come up with this.

Image

Did he use the "Big Book of Fucking Ugly 1970's Style Buildings" for ideas :?

So I take it every building on the south of the square is for the chop ?
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Postby motman » Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:54 am

glasgowken wrote:
Image

Did he use the "Big Book of Fucking Ugly 1970's Style Buildings" for ideas :?

The August edition of Grand Designs magazine feature the latest wonderful idea from a german architect of sticking what looks like steel containers out of the side of buildings, bolted on and held up from above by a couple of cables.
So........ these daft boxes stuck on the top of the building may be the latest thing that turns these numpties on.

Rant on ->
When I'm in power part 1.
Architects should be forced to live in the carbuncles they design AND bankrupted if their wonderful artists impressions don't turn out to be the wonderful creations they envisaged. After a year or so............... No architects. :twisted:
<- Rant off.
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Postby Sharon » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:12 am

If there were no architects we'd end up with a city full of buildigns like that one on Pollokshaws Rd opposite McDonalds.

I think we need to keep them!!

The boxes do look daft. Can picture someone sitting carefully building a wee model then their kid coming along and asking if they can play too and sticking a couple of their wee building blocks on top "genius" crys daddy!
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Postby motman » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:21 am

OK, there are a few out there that have a modicum of common sense, but what worries me is that these large developments are sold to the great unwashed via the hungry media using such impressions. A lot of these well-intentioned developments look tired, dirty, water streaked... zzzzzzzz..... and so on, a surprisingly short term after being built.

I'm no great fan of the SAS Radisson for instance, but the cladding looks as if it might just stand the test of time.
Remember the great Govan redevelopment? If it was so good, why are plans being drawn up to redo it? :cry:
Oops.. sounds like the beginning of another rant.
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Postby glasgowken » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:22 am

The buildings below the boxes bother me more, bloody awful :?
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Postby Sharon » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:29 am

Well hopefully this is very much an initial sketch and a long way from the finished thing. It does put a clean edge on the square, tho those buildings do look high... could make that end a dark dreary place for the times of the year when the sun is a bit lower in the sky!
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Postby motman » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:31 am

A church would look nice there :twisted:
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Postby crusty_bint » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:13 am

St Enoch Centre:

Yeah Gap, part of the proposal is to demolish te former Clydesdale Bank building at the corner with Argyle St, although I don't see why it couldn't nor shouldn't be integrated with any extension to the shopping centre. I also have to agree with a few of you in saying that I feel te city would be better off if they were to demolish the entire complex and just start over again.

The issue of the square having an undefined eastern edge having the result of the square being a bit visually leaky is an important one which needs to be addressed. However, I'm not sure why additional development space was required in the form of a strip of the Square. I also wonder how this managed to happen unremarked - remember the furore over a bit of one of the parks (names escpae me today) being given over for car parking?!

I understand the steps leading up to, and the canopy hanging over the entrance on the square is the main culprit of this visual leakage but we managed to fit a major railway station and hotel on the same site without any loss of public space.

Howard St and Dixon St:

I'll start wiith the blocks facing onto the square... why oh why oh why on earth hs it been decided that now is the time to demolish whats left of the original Georgian sqaure? What's wrong with the building standing at present? By far the most successfull square in Glasgow is Royal Exchange Sq whic this southern edge isn't too far off!

This derivative proposal is decidely shoddy in my opinion and te last thing we need there is 10 storeys RMJMs best banality! I welcome the redevelopment of the Somerfield site (formerly a Thomson warehouse) but surely we should and must expect better for such a prominent space?

As for the tower component, te boxes don't bother me too much, altho I do question how well these will fare in the Glasgow climate. My main concern ere is that the Dixon St tower (McGherkin, the Golf Bag or whatever knick-name you might have for it) was intended to act as an axial termination for Buchannan St but now it's left vying for space and attention with tis proposal and the horrenodous Custom House Quay development. The end result of thi just isn't convincing as an architectural setpiece.

Something needs to be done about the sqaure - everyones in agreement with that I would expect but I would urgethe owners of the St Enoch Centre and GCC to consider the viability of the existing centre (used ostly as a short-cut when its raining as the place is absolutely dire!) and whether the RMJM proposal for the south side of the square lives up to the GCC claim that they are "no longer willing to accept second rate architecure" - particularly in the Central Outstanding Conservation Area. Custom House Quay already goeas a long way in undermining the good work that's been done in the past few years - these proposals can only compound this further.

...wont somebody think of the children!!!!!
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Postby Ally Doll » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:26 am

This might sound a bit daft, but I think it would be nice to have a fountain in the Square, to give it a bit of life and interest. There aren't enough in the town centre! Just now, to me anyway, St Enoch's just a big drab guano-covered space. It was nice when it had that wee market in it at Christmas, that gave it a bit of life.

The shopping centre is awful, but I can't see them knocking it down in the near future. Improval and refurb is the best I think we'll get :(

I totally agree with Crusty that the remaining older buildings should be retained - to get rid of them for no good reason would be a travesty. Are they listed? They should be!

The travel centre should also be made better use of as a feature, and the subway exit improved.

Just my thoughts, not any kind of expert...
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Postby My Kitten » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:32 am

Ally Doll wrote:This might sound a bit daft, but I think it would be nice to have a fountain in the Square, to give it a bit of life and interest. There aren't enough in the town centre! Just now, to me anyway, St Enoch's just a big drab guano-covered space. It was nice when it had that wee market in it at Christmas, that gave it a bit of life.

The shopping centre is awful, but I can't see them knocking it down in the near future. Improval and refurb is the best I think we'll get :(

I totally agree with Crusty that the remaining older buildings should be retained - to get rid of them for no good reason would be a travesty. Are they listed? They should be!

The travel centre should also be made better use of as a feature, and the subway exit improved.

Just my thoughts, not any kind of expert...


Totally agree Ally Doll, and as for being "not any kind of expert" I think we all are, we live with it day to day. I think a lot of people forget that and that our opinions are formed by our interaction with these decisions.
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Postby crusty_bint » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:02 am

Ally Doll wrote:I totally agree with Crusty that the remaining older buildings should be retained - to get rid of them for no good reason would be a travesty. Are they listed? They should be!


Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they're irreplacable, I just don't see what is to be gained (other than £££'s for te developer) by replacing the existing building by that RMJM proposal.

Id like to see the travel centre reconnected to the subway sytem in some way, always seemed so under-utilised to me. Would make a nice cafe/restraunt too right enough with all that space for outside tables. Would make a nice hoose too...

I like the fountain idea too, I'd actually like to see a water feature on the Clyde itself, maybe something like the water spout on Lake Geneva?
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Postby Ally Doll » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:12 am

crusty_bint wrote:I'd actually like to see a water feature on the Clyde itself, maybe something like the water spout on Lake Geneva?


It's a bit big! 8O I've a picture at home, I'll post it later.
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Postby crusty_bint » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:15 am

heheh mibbe on a smaller scale! Look forward to seeing ur pic :)
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Postby gap74 » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:47 am

Was a fountain, or rather, some kind of elaborate water feature, not mooted originally when the public realm works were carried out there a few years back? I seem to remember a big circular thing near the bus terminus having water involved in an artist's impression in the Evening Times...

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