"Iconic" building saved

[MrGongGong]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25217403

I know it's an overused word
but this is great news after Preston Bus station
so how about listing the "old" Birmingham Library then

[french frank]

It's a low-level version of the 'iconic' 1960s Robinson Building (1 Redcliffe Street) in Bristol. Still looking good:



Terrible eyesore when it was first built

[MrGongGong]

I think you are looking at the wrong one

[ardcarp]

Yes, but doesn't reinforced concrete look horrible after a decade or so? Are we meant to view the staining as a sort of heritage patina?`

[french frank]

I think you are looking at the wrong one

I clicked on your link? You don't mean St Peter's Seminary?

[MrGongGong]

I clicked on your link? You don't mean St Peter's Seminary?

I do

What is interesting after visiting the chapel at Ronchamp



Is that in the UK we associate concrete with car parks and poorly built civic buildings
whereas concrete can be a wonderful material, I love the way that the Hayward Gallery and QEH have traces of their shuttering construction.

[french frank]

What is interesting after visiting the chapel at Ronchamp [...]
Is that in the UK we associate concrete with car parks and poorly built civic buildings
whereas concrete can be a wonderful material, I love the way that the Hayward Gallery and QEH have traces of their shuttering construction.

I am sorry. Deeply sorry. Humbly sorry. But I cannot love Clifton Cathedral, the Concrete Society's Winner of Winners in, I think, 2007.

[teamsaint]

Thanks very much for highlighting this Gongers.
What a sight it must have been in in its heydey.

Seems to me that it would be great to have it in everyday use for some public purpose, but at least progress seems to be being made.

[eighthobstruction]

I do

What is interesting after visiting the chapel at Ronchamp



Is that in the UK we associate concrete with car parks and poorly built civic buildings
whereas concrete can be a wonderful material, I love the way that the Hayward Gallery and QEH have traces of their shuttering construction.

....yes GG ....an incredibly unpredictable material....some complete and utter monstrosities....trouble with it is in many cases they have no idea what it will probably look like until it is built....with rare exception (Preston Bus Station not being one of them)....the quicker they are all pulled down the better....

....the Ronchamp chapel is quite brilliant (painted white I believe).... anyway thankyou for your fascinating insights

[MrGongGong]

Ronchamp has a similar texture and range of colours as many UK car parks



the problem with this architecture is that we fail to see the buildings that are brilliant
The Barbican , for example, is a wonderful place to live (if you could afford it these days )
at least the time when some folks were serious about pulling down the QEH has now passed

[teamsaint]

I don't know what the problem with this architecture is.
But i do think that somewhere along the line, people with power are scared of those with ideas, and make sure that we all have to settle for the ordinary, the debased, the mundane.

[Serial_Apologist]

I am sorry. Deeply sorry. Humbly sorry. But I cannot love Clifton Cathedral, the Concrete Society's Winner of Winners in, I think, 2007.

Agree about the exterior, ff, but the inside is rather good imo from memory. Many years ago I heard a brilliant rendition of Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecote on the excellent organ there.

[teamsaint]

Short film here about St Peters.

http://www.theinvisiblecollege.org.uk/post/21150545887/a-short-film-about-st-peters-seminary-in

[Flosshilde]

Good news up to a point, but 7.5 million is still needed to 'save' it. It is a fabulous building. There was an exhibition in Glasgow a few years ago at The Lighthouse of the work of the practice (Gillespie, Kidd and Coia) responsible for it, which included a film of the Seminary and some splendid models. It's worth looking at the exhibition website, which includes information on the churches the practice built for the Catholic diocese of Glasgow.

http://www.gillespiekiddandcoia.com/

[David-G]

It's a low-level version of the 'iconic' 1960s Robinson Building (1 Redcliffe Street) in Bristol. Still looking good:



Terrible eyesore when it was first built

If you mean the white square building then on the basis of this picture it is still an eyesore now.