Yellow Brick Road - Birmingham 2002

Following the yellow brick road, or more precisely yellow, green and purple strips that emerge from the top of three successive lamp posts outside the Navigation Street entrance to New Street Station, with the view straight up Pinold Street to Victoria Square, the strips lead off in another direction. Along Navigation Street, to the pelican crossing at Hill Street, past the listed concrete sculpture that is the New Street Station Signal box, past white painted site hoardings bearing enormous photos of John Rocha, the designer associated with the interior fit out of the concrete structure emerging behind the hoarding. Across the street, the red cage, a car park that is ‘clad’ in a red steel structure, that supports planters, like huge window boxes that are planted with climbers that grow all over the facade of the car park.

To another pelican crossing and across into a plaza formed beneath the flyover supporting Suffolk Street Queensway, soffit and legs painted white, illuminated by coloured hanging globes, the three strips that are very popular with children, walking along then as though balancing, arms spread wide, all the way to until they disappear up the lamp posts, here they lead the way to a cobbled street, where cars proceed very slowly to an ‘underground’ car park, the cobbled street gives way to a monumental flight of steps to a bright ‘pillar box’ red, facade bearing the name ‘The Mailbox’  Birmingham’s newest destination comprising a hotel, apartments, shopping and restaurants inserted into the former Royal Mail sorting office.

At the top of the steps, Harvey Nicholls frames the entrance with the store on both sides and bridging over the thoroughfare, which splits vertically, escalators up to the first floor a kind of gallery with black steel railings and varnished timber handrails, set into a colonnade formed of terracotta rain screen concealing the original concrete structure. looking up the levels above the colonnade are the balconies of the hotel rooms and apartments, open to the sky. A street has been cut out of the existing structure, at street level names associated with New York’s Fifth Avenue, such as DKNY and Ralph Lauren appear in minimalist retail units, lots of frameless glass, stone tiles, timber boarding and  immaculately arranged displays.

The concierge counter for the hotel stands just off the street, in a sort of open lobby. Brushed aluminium pavement cafe tables and serve to animate this artificial street, The Art Lounge a, coffee shop that is also a gallery and bookshop provides a focal point at the end of the street, and also uses vacant shopfronts as additional gallery, studios appear in others slotted in between designer shops, artists, sculptors working in plain view make for a vibrant environment. The street terminates with a flight of steps, augmented with lifts and escalators to take everybody to the upper level, to the BBC television studios, the pavement cafe’s continue in an environment where the shy is replaced with a white painted waffle grid. At the end, Salvage Wharf, part of the canal network, with resident barge, Ramada Hotel, bars and restaurants set amongst a block formed of red brick and grey metal panels, at its base the brick forms huge sloping buttresses and arches, a colonnade along the tow path. Continuing along the footpath formed of aluminium extrusions in a type of grating, galvanised balustrades, steel cables with stainless steel handrails and yacht fittings, make up the edge to the walkway, up ahead a dark brick cone, with glass canopy on steel structure, form ‘The Node’ a lift tower surrounded by spiral stair to get to the wharf side which is dominated by a fish restaurant, a very upmarket version of Ada’s Cafe, where instead of Spam, everything on the menu involves eating fish.

The canal makes a ninety degree turn by the node, heading off towards Worcester, lined both sides by derelict victorian warehouses, crossed by a typical  canal bridge, and trees beyond. The brick arch bridge, typical to many crossings of the canals in Birrmingham, cast iron plates along the tow path, heavily scored by years of running cables over them from the time when the barges were drawn along the canal by horses. On the Bridge parapet, two red panels, one above each end of the arch where it is at its thickest, to permit the Fire Brigade to extract water from the canal in case of emergency. The aluminium walkway, forms a bridge over the bend in the canal, and descends gently to arrive onto the towpath, here the one mile walking route continues, along the canal to Gas Street Basin, one side converted victorian buildings, form cafe, night club, on the opposite side 1980s dull brown brick buildings try to mimic their Victorian neighbours, arched windows, pitched roofs and dark colours try very hard and mainly unsuccessfully to blend in.

At Gas Street Basin, the James Brindley, more of the same mock Victoriana, with a glass barrel vault reminiscent of scaled down version of Paxton’s Crystal Palace, but with glazing bars in dark green. Beyond, the plant room to the Hyatt Hotel, the mirrored glass block, the plant room also trying to fit in with the neo-Victorian canal buildings. Along with the glassworks, a pub formed in the ruins of a derelict glassworks, glass planes firm roof and walls behind the restored brick facade fronting onto the canal.  The towpath continues beneath the inhabited bridge of Broad Street, and arrives at the green suspension bridge of Brindley Place. The flight of steps from the towpath ascends to a bandstand next to the bridge, the diagonal street that continues the line of the bridge leads to the square. On the right side of the street is Cafe Rouge, that could just have been transplanted from Paris, green steel supporting the canopy to form the outdoor dining area captures the feel of a Parisian pavement cafe. The place is buzzing with activity, diners in the cafes, a juggler in the bandstand, a steady stream of people walking across the square, on a path that leads through the fountain, past a and sometimes over the base of, a bronze sculpture depicting the blackened railway viaducts that are a prominent feature of Birmingham, across cobbled street to the car park.

Turning back and across the Bridge, the steps lead down to the plaza with mature trees, and green cloud sculpture, still with people walking between the two halves of the mould, looking quizzically wondering what it is, all set against the dark reflective glass of the ICC. Inside the Atrium, the internal street of the ICC, Business suits are everywhere, milling around as the street becomes the breakout space from a conference. Negotiating the stairs, ramps, fig trees and areas not occupied, a quick look in the empty Symphony Hall, lots of timber and on to another glass wall, supported on blue steel, with red and yellow neon sculpture, and out onto Centenary Square and a large ferris wheel.

The Birmingham Eye, a white steel A frame structure supports the hub of the wheel, springing down to Shipping containers filled with water, trimmed on the ground with a brick border where it meets the brick paved surface of the square.   the cabins bearing the french name, suggesting that the whole installation  has been shipped over from Paris. Kids play on the butter sculpture, officially named ‘Forward’, depicting Birmingham’s progression from the industrial revolution, made in fibreglass, in a buttermilk yellow colour eating the name the butter sculpture. Further along the square in front of the Repertory Theatre, another sculpture, a fountain has children playing in the water bouncing off bronze shells. In front of Baskerville house, there is a sculpture, a series of letter punches, spelling the name ‘Virgil’ marking the contribution of Joseph Chamberlain, letter founder, to the city’s ‘progress’. Skateboarders, play on the sloping circular plaza and low walls outside a white stone rotunda with domed roof and four portals, the war memorial, where inside the open door, every citizen on the city is that have lost their life in two world wars is remembered in letters carved in the stone. A mime artist captivates the crowds on the wide bridge over the Queensaway, grey suit, bowler hat, white face, a statue who stands absolutely still, then moves suddenly, freaking out the unsuspecting passer by.

Beneath the library, Hooters, a bar best known for the uniforms of the waitresses, Raphaels, a bar that always seems to be empty and Mc Donalds best known for...? set in the plastic forum. Outside two Japanese tourists act out a ritual that is seen the world over. One stands at the top of the steps forming the amphitheatre with their back to the Museum and Art Gallery building whilst the other takes a photograph of them, they then change places and repeat the process before walking off down the steps in the direction of Victoria Square and New Street, probably to photograph themselves standing in front of more of the city.
Heading out onto the top of the very crowded Amphitheatre that frames the rather circular Chamberlain Square, a band play on a stage outside the Town Hall, to quite a lively audience. Passing the town Hall and through the crowds, Gormley’s Iron Man Sculpture, a view down the street and there it is, the Navigation Street entrance to New Street Station, the sculptural lamp posts, the yellow brick road and the completion of the one mile route.

Fairy Wings - Library of Birmingham 2013

Crossing Centenary Square in the pouring rain is nothing new to Birmingham, Mecanoo’s  Library on the other hand is, situated between Baskerville House and the ICC, encapsulating the Repertory Theatre, a series of glass boxes stacked on top of each other, in such a way as to create huge dramatic cantilevers, very much in Dutch tradition of Koolhaas where heavy objects appear to float in the air, also in the tradition of Koolhaas, is the reference to context, in fact there is none, it forms its own context, significantly taller than its two counterparts, an exquisite object, a jewelled box referred to my four-year-old daughter as a building made of fairy wings. The fairy wings are a series of overlapping metal rings on the outside of the glass, probably offering a degree of solar protection, if there was any solar radiation falling on the surface, but mainly they are for decoration, to make a statement. 

On passing beneath the floating jewelled box, the cantilevered volume above provides a welcome respite from the rain, enough to shake of an umbrella before entering. On entering the lobby, a glass fronted space it is the library itself that the the main exhibit, a long travelator leads up across a circular atrium, a drum that descends to an underground level, the drum seems to be made out of books, or at least the circumference is lined with books on black shelves. In front of the books, black steel structure and balustrade line the edge of the atrium, wood floors complete the effect of making this feel like a comfortable place to read books. 

At the head of the travelator, a glass fronted space, with glass fronted corridors leading off to library offices where the staff can be seen working in an open environment with clear views out aver the city. A glass lift ascends through a smaller circular space above the drum, much to the bemusement of an elderly couple who have just ridden down in said lift, wait while others get in, only to be transported back up to the top. At the top an exhibit that feels like it has been transplanted from another time, which of course it has, the Shakespeare room, disassembled in the 1970s and reassembled in the 2010s, timber panelling, cabinets, empty drawers, and a collection of artefacts associated with William Shakespeare. 

Outside is a not so secret garden, not so secret because there are signs pointing to it, and it is listed on the appropriate level in the lift. Coats on, umbrella up, and out onto the roof of the library and into the rain , which has actually eased a bit, and wow! For a nine storey building, an unexpected clear view of the Birmingham skyline, demonstrates the benefit of building on the top of a hill. This is amazing, a tranquil space with intimate seating areas surrounded by shrub planting, with the whole city as a backdrop, Le Corbusier’s Solarium, from Vers une Architecture. City landmarks punctuate the skyline giving the impression of towers set in a green park, as distance hides the roads and low rise buildings and houses that exist between the trees. John Madin’s iconic inverted ziggurat, still bearing the name Birmingham Central Library, a pure sculpture in a plane of blocks, looking rather sad, rain stained, neglected. 

Make’s Cube, another sculptural object with no relationship with its context, pure form, making its own bold statement, a huge cube seemingly made up of many smaller cubes in a type of three dimensional puzzle, on the higher levels, sections are left out, and at the top glass planes are folded to form the roof.  A statement of creating a place within the neglected industrial plane, very much part of the thinking of the 2000s in stark contrast, the dull brown low rise blocks of 1980s conservatism, that stand directly in front. Scanning around, the rotunda, designed in the 1960s by Jim Roberts, rehabilitated by Urban Splash, now a cool address to live, a glass cylinder looking very much like Roberts’ original design. The absence of any sign of new street station from this vantage, shows how much has been removed in the current progress of reorganisation. 

Directly opposite the library, Arena Central, or at least the parts that were undertaken, Alpha Tower stands in a clear plaza following the removal of the television studios, a face lifted Crowne Plaza Hotel, essentially painted black and white to make it relate to the white concrete and graphite panelling of the apartment development. The neo-classical bank building that line the edge of Broad Street stand empty awaiting conversion into boutique hotels. The registry office now offices for the department of sport, out front the very shiny statue of the three Victorian industrialists, Watt, Newcomen, Priestley, studying a map of how they were going to transform the world. Beyond, a large concrete block with air handling units on the roof, reads as the Ballroom to the Crowne Plaza. In the background, the grey clad sides of the Mailbox. 

Looking up Broad Street, The Hyatt hotel, the 1990s glass tower a symbol of confidence in the future of Birmingham, along with its partner the Symphony Hall and ICC. Beyond Brindleyplace makes its own mark on the skyline, Porphoryos’ curious venetian tower, stands out among the brick clad blocks, historic buildings, Ikon Gallery in the former Oozells Street School, and the Church Nightclub, in a former Church, with their clock towers just poking up above the later blocks. Along Broad Street itself, office towers that were built in the 1970s have been reused, converted to hotels, breathing new life into the city.

My daughter does not share my interest in viewing the skyline, she wants to go swimming, we take a ride down in the glass elevator and to my surprise she wants to go out onto the roof terrace that fronts onto Centenary Square, there are quite a few people out here, enjoying the gardens on the top of the cantilevered box, benches are set into the landscape, some are the edge of the raised planters, one such bench has no planting, the space enclosed by the wooden slatted bench is lined with blue acrylic playing surface, a little person climbs over the bench, into the blue zone, now extremely happy, she is swimming! Must have noticed this from the secret garden on the roof.