Someone said it made them think of the SuperLambBanana. :PDT_Xtremez_42:Quote:
Originally Posted by lenka
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Someone said it made them think of the SuperLambBanana. :PDT_Xtremez_42:Quote:
Originally Posted by lenka
The Three Graces and the Liver birds stand at the edge of the city looking outwards as the 'figurehead' of a great and important port and city. their magnificent power and scale dominate the city and the river. The Pier Head is or should be a great and open space.
Anything of any size placed in the way of this set piece 'view' is not going to work.
As it happens, this building is a small building in comparison and it pathetically attempts to match the great scale of the Pier Head buildings; desperately trying to be different and bold and ends up just being half-arsed 'zany' - a bit like the similarly dumb and dinky little canal and odd hard landscape. This is a port for ships not a canal basin for put-puts.
Nevertheless and because the restauranteur had an existing lease, the building is two storeys and high enough to be a nuisance. Even poor old King Edward (??) can't see the water.
Together they make a nonsense of the space and worse; they split it up into small spaces that can't be used for much beyond a few hundred people.
The Albert Dock is not the be all and end of all of the waterfront and the link to it and this building is a seriously expensive mistake.
'Temporarily' board over the canal with massive baltic timbers and quietly leave them there.
I know you everybode have fun. But it's my opinion. And I think it looks so nice.
I can see what you mean. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by lenka
there used to be kids toys called Transformers .. the shapes could transform into fierce animals.
this is the tiger one-
Petromax, I had mixed views on the canal link. Go back to what was there before the Three Graces, George's Dock. Ideally, this should have been left in place with the Three Graces behind the dock. The Three Graces with boast bobbing up and down in front would have been a better setting. The Three Graces, three monolithic blocks, created dead space around them which, despite many expensive mistakes, has always remained dead space. The Three Graces can be merged more into the city by eliminating the wide urban motorway, The Strand. The space in front to the river is wind swept most of the time and there is little that can be done there, as people naturally move from the wind. The success of the Albert Dock is that the warehouses shelter people from the river wind, with covered walkways right up to the quays. The model that should be adopted in developing the remainder of the docks.
The Canal Link does split the Pier Head space up and acts as a drain against flooding from the river. The put-puts are welcome, however all docks should be back to deep water to accommodate historic, visiting and tall ships. The city has let us down allowing a commercial outfit, Peel Holdings, rape our heritage. They are converting the dock system to an inland barge basins - not what our heritage is about. We need the likes of these in the old docks near the centre......
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by Phillip G
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by Kebabman
There is a need for sheltered spaces and a need for places to 'brave the elements'.
When the enclosed dock system ran the length of the city, the Pier Head was the one and only place that gave access to the river and the opportunity to 'see the sea', see the ships close at hand; essentially an empty space - a bravely and truly open space subject to the elements. This is the magic of the place.
The various landing stage and ferry termini were unobtrusive and only added to access to the river. The 60's bus depot blocked the view of the water and was the start of the decline leading to the place filling up with 'stuff' in desperate attempts to make the space 'active'.
Liverpool is literally and metaphorically on the edge; outward looking and international. The very brave and confident thing to do would be to sweep all this meaningless bric-a-brac away (or cover it up) to create a world class open space standing at the prow of the city.
A forest of tall ships' masts in Canning, Salthouse and Princes Docks would indeed be a majestic and soaring setting either side of the Three Graces and could be enjoyed in these more enclosed and sheltered areas all year round.