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PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:19 pm
by cheesemonster
Bingo Bango wrote:yeah, but thats just my point - WHY is it to be a clear goal? why is it so clear cut?

because it would fit in with and compliment what's already there and won't look an eyesore!

If you're saying this isn't the case - and architects always design willy-nilly of what's already next door then that strikes me as a little culturally/historically ignorant, in which case...

m'on the spurting glass cocks!

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:32 pm
by crusty_bint
I really don't see what the problem is. The brick box it is to replace is without merit and has a wholly negative impact on the streetscape and street level. The rhomboidal, almost crystalline replacement will address that negative impact and also the light issue. The retained facade (the only listed part of the building) will be immaculately restored to it's original spec and will be safe fo0r another 70 years - what more could you ask for?! As for the height, has anyone bothered their arse to find out whats happening round about it?

...didn't think so...

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:34 pm
by My Kitten
crusty_bint wrote: what more could you ask for?! As for the height, has anyone bothered their arse to find out whats happening round about it?

...didn't think so...


aye I huv

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:35 pm
by crusty_bint
and what did you find?

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:45 pm
by gap74
crusty_bint wrote: The retained facade (the only listed part of the building)


Just a slight correction - Historic Scotland don't list parts of buildings - any listing covers the address listed as a whole.

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:47 pm
by My Kitten
crusty_bint wrote:and what did you find?


That Standard Life House, although will be nice n glassy and reflective is also big. I like the space within the glass box, just not that high, although it might stop some of the rain hitting me when i walk past.

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:03 pm
by crusty_bint
Actually you are quite right Gap! I do think, however, that had the building consisted of only the rear brick block it would not have been listed so I think its fair for me to say that the only part of merit is the facade. Had the interior remained intact I would be of a very different persuasion, but as you know yourself there is very very little of anything original inside.

As for surrounding developments and the height issue, yes pritty Kitty, there is Standard Life House and also practically the entire east flank of West Nile St, and both aiming high! What the Odeon proposal proposes is increasing the height from 6 to 11 floors. In such a central and busy location this does not seem an unreasonable leap to me.

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:06 pm
by My Kitten
all the highicity is mind numbing to me

C'mon out for a coffee and we'll get oor handbags oot over it. :wink:

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:08 pm
by crusty_bint
It's a gentleman's sponge bag.... how very dare you...

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:11 pm
by My Kitten
crusty_bint wrote:It's a gentleman's sponge bag.... how very dare you...


:oops:

just cos i live with my mother and haven't found the right girl yet, you asoom i'd take it up the a-rse. HOW VERY DARE YOU

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:11 pm
by My Kitten
crusty_bint wrote:It's a gentleman's sponge bag.... how very dare you...


:oops:

just cos i live with my mother and haven't found the right girl yet, you asoom i'd take it up the a-rse. HOW VERY DARE YOU

aye but its still too tall for ickle me.

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:15 pm
by crusty_bint
::): what floor do you live on again shweet cheeksh? :P

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:16 pm
by My Kitten
:P :wink:

PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 4:03 pm
by gap74
Although we don't live in the height of art deco, it is an aesthetic that has only fairly recently started to be appreciated - fashions come and go, one only has to look at the corrugated cladding put over the main facade of the Odeon in 1970, where all the artist's impressions at the time hide every last piece of what was then seen as old-fashioned detailing:

Image

A great deal of good art deco architecture has been lost in Scotland, even recently - anyone passed the gutted shell of Nardini's lately? A sad sight, and I also saw last week that the faience tiles have been removed from the former Lawson Fisher store on London Rd at Glasgow Cross.

I'm glad to see that some of it is now being recognised as a positive thing and restored sympathetically, such as in the case of the Beresford in Sauchiehall St (although even that I think has been botched on the outside, with some of the tiling painted over rather than cleaned up).

Anyways, the problem with a lot of modern architecture is that it just doesn't seem to aspire to anything - at least with baroque, deco, nouveau, baronial, brutalism etc, they do express a particular coherent style - lots of modern stuff, however, is neither one style nor the other, it's just a mish-mash of functionality and what's cheap. I've nothing whatsoever against someone trying something bold and new - as has been mentioned, we can't just sit still. But in this case, the building is both listed and in a conservation area - therfore it must have at least some regard to the original facade and its environs, otherwise what is the point of these designations?

The proposed design would be an interesting structure for a more open gap site, with spacious precincts surrounding it - but hemmed in tightly in a gridded city streetscape, I'm not so sure. I would like to see a design that imagines what deco would have become had the war not pretty much halted its development in the UK and parts of Europe - there are some funky things in places like India and Cuba that I've seen lately that hint at what it might have become.

Anyways, just my two pence worth, I'm glad this inspired some debate on both sides, as it's interesting to see what people who live and work in the city think of it.