Don’t know if I’ve ever talked about architecture, or Manchester (the one in the north of england), where I live. But I will now. Manchester’s a great place, it’s got some fabulous Victorian and Edwardian architecture, was the birthplace of the industrial revolution (and the inspiration for it’s greatest critic) and of course, Acid House (I’ve never actually been in the Hacienda, although several mates managed to get up here in the early 90s). And of course my girlfriend is born and bred Mancunian.
It went through a massively ostentatious period of building development in the 1800′s with newly rich mill owners building palatial, stunning venetian-derived warehouses, which sat derelict for most of the late 20th Century, but now (like the rest of the world) are being renovated into ‘live/work’ spaces.
Now, Manchester’s got a Libeskind, a newly forged ostentatious self-confidence, Europe’s largest solar tower and the beeb’s relocating a shitload of their operation up here in a few years.
All combining to make Manchester the UK’s real second city
Where was I going with all this? Um, Will Alsop (warning, irritating browser resize if clicked). He’s my hero – a brilliant iconoclastic architect whose just added to the flurry of new apartment blocks with his Chips project. All part of regenerating probably the last bit of inner Manchester left untouched.
I was going to write about how fun I found the flash-based ‘microsite’ – but i got a bit off tangent…