Heading West from the Rotunda the traffic gives way to a completely pedestrianised street, New Street. New terracotta block paving and trees in cast iron gratings define a new urban space, mime artists draw the crowds, while a pavement artist draws...Well very large pastel drawings, very good ones. At the top end of New Street the pristine fountain with cascading water and bronze statue known as the ‘Floozy in the Jacuzzi’ as the rush and gurgle of the water and the chiming of a bell announcing the hour sets a very different scene to that of the rush of the traffic at the bottom of New Street where it meets the Bull Ring, this feels like a city centre. Steps climb up to Victoria Square giant stone balls define the southern edge of the and the newly restored Council House, not a council house but the offices and chambers of the City Council. Anthony Gormley’s Iron Man sculpture stands at a jaunty angle against the backdrop of the Neo-Greek temple that is Birmingham Town Hall. Queen Victoria stands proudly on her podium in not quite the centre on the square which is actually well almost square. Heading onward between the Council House and Town Hall another urban space reveals itself, Chamberlain Square, which is more of an amphitheatre with the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial as its centrepiece. A miniature Gothic tower in white stone in set in a fountain. Winding up the ramp that cuts through the steps of the amphitheatre with freshers sitting amongst the statues taking their new surroundings. The building that accommodates the Council House also houses the Museum and art gallery which fronts onto Chamberlain, a venetian bridge leaps across Edmund Street to the Gas Hall. At the top of the ramp the pedestrian route disappears beneath the fantastic concrete sculpture, a kind of inverted ziggurat that is the Birmingham Central Library. McDonalds defines the entrance to the Paradise Forum, a kind of plastic stage set that continues the neoclassical flavour of the civic spaces outside. McDonalds is joined by Baskin and Robbins Ice cream parlour along with a Fish and Chips restaurant, along with other shopping centre favourites like Tie Rack, and lots of people. A Glance upward and colourful sails hang down from the steel and glass roof light that caps off the courtyard to the Library.
Continuing westward through a giant revolving door two patent glazed book ends define the route through to Centenary Square, passing by the Grapevine a wine bar that tucks in under the library. Flower beds line the street when passing through between the bookends and if you were not looking for it you could pass by unaware of the ring road passing below. Centenary Square, a long rectangular space with Civic Centre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre on the right, Alpha Tower an elegant white angular tower sitting above the Central Television studios. A splash of colour as an Indian wedding party emerge from the registry office to pose for photographs. At the far end a mirrored glass tower, the Hyatt Hotel with faded blue steel structure spanning across Broad Street to connect with the giant white stone and mirrored glass of the International Convention Centre, (ICC) the flow of people walking west heads into the ICC, below the blue steel and glass canopy the red block paving gives way to polished granite and fig trees in an internal street that connects the Symphony Hall with the numerous halls of the convention centre linked with bridges and escalators.
Steps and ramps thread their way down to a plaza that stops at the waters edge, well actually it is the canal. In the centre of the Plaza a green cloud like sculpture is drawing the attention of many students as they are walking between the two halves of the cloud which are like copper moulds, taking photographs, trying to figure out what it means. park benches line the canal side, and some of my fellow students are sitting on them looking at the other side. A Victorian brick building the Oozells Street School is perched on the top of a shear wall of mud, whilst excavators continue taking away more of it. In the distance the National Indoor Arena (NIA) home of the TV show Gladiators. A walk along the canal towpath towards the NIA, a tall curving brick wall with the Brewmaster’s house sitting on top, a grey and white arch a kind of hornby railways bridge spans the canal to connect with the mud bank. Passing beneath the bridge, the mud bank gives way to green, a lush green mound of grass and clover behind a brick and stone wall with blue steel fence and light poles giving a seaside feel to the place. Derelict industrial buildings line the canal side heading towards the ICC along with original canal bridges and traffic island where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal meets the Birmingham Canal Navigations. Red brick and render apartments occupy a triangular plot between two canals trying to give the area a feel of Amsterdam. Standing on the green mound old and new meet at the edges, shiny glass against blackened brick with weeds growing out of the parapets, canada geese occupy the green taking advantage of a landing spot before the development of Brindleyplace gets underway.
Continuing westward through a giant revolving door two patent glazed book ends define the route through to Centenary Square, passing by the Grapevine a wine bar that tucks in under the library. Flower beds line the street when passing through between the bookends and if you were not looking for it you could pass by unaware of the ring road passing below. Centenary Square, a long rectangular space with Civic Centre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre on the right, Alpha Tower an elegant white angular tower sitting above the Central Television studios. A splash of colour as an Indian wedding party emerge from the registry office to pose for photographs. At the far end a mirrored glass tower, the Hyatt Hotel with faded blue steel structure spanning across Broad Street to connect with the giant white stone and mirrored glass of the International Convention Centre, (ICC) the flow of people walking west heads into the ICC, below the blue steel and glass canopy the red block paving gives way to polished granite and fig trees in an internal street that connects the Symphony Hall with the numerous halls of the convention centre linked with bridges and escalators.
Steps and ramps thread their way down to a plaza that stops at the waters edge, well actually it is the canal. In the centre of the Plaza a green cloud like sculpture is drawing the attention of many students as they are walking between the two halves of the cloud which are like copper moulds, taking photographs, trying to figure out what it means. park benches line the canal side, and some of my fellow students are sitting on them looking at the other side. A Victorian brick building the Oozells Street School is perched on the top of a shear wall of mud, whilst excavators continue taking away more of it. In the distance the National Indoor Arena (NIA) home of the TV show Gladiators. A walk along the canal towpath towards the NIA, a tall curving brick wall with the Brewmaster’s house sitting on top, a grey and white arch a kind of hornby railways bridge spans the canal to connect with the mud bank. Passing beneath the bridge, the mud bank gives way to green, a lush green mound of grass and clover behind a brick and stone wall with blue steel fence and light poles giving a seaside feel to the place. Derelict industrial buildings line the canal side heading towards the ICC along with original canal bridges and traffic island where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal meets the Birmingham Canal Navigations. Red brick and render apartments occupy a triangular plot between two canals trying to give the area a feel of Amsterdam. Standing on the green mound old and new meet at the edges, shiny glass against blackened brick with weeds growing out of the parapets, canada geese occupy the green taking advantage of a landing spot before the development of Brindleyplace gets underway.
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