ON A FAR MORE IMPORTANT NOTE...

[tencrush]

Trinity Centre Multi Storey Car Park, Gateshead, aka The Get Carter Car Park by Owen Luder, due for demolition some time in the coming weeks

One day, when THE NEW BRUTALIST REVOLUTION comes, one day, YOU, you detractors and naysayers, your backs will be against the wall. When that revolution comes. Give it a year or two, given the current economic climate, but it will come.



Tricorn Centre, Portsmouth, by Owen Luder, demolished 2004

Town and city councils of Great Britain, admit it, you never really looked after the concrete properly, the way concrete is meant to be looked after, because you never really liked the buildings in the first place. Philistines, the lot of you. When Owen Luder eventually dies, he will come back and haunt you all. And so he should.



Derwent Tower, Gateshead, by Owen Luder, threatened with demolition

This post was sponsored by a brief flare up of architectural rage. Go on, then, tear it ALL down, you've started, you may as well finish.

Comments

[edithmatilda.livejournal.com]

In defence of the last planned demolition, the Rocket is unfortunately a bit too notorious and full of scary junkies to be all that viable as accommodation. I'd love to see it rehabilitated rather than demolished but I really don't see much hope of that, and I suspect that just leaving it there is not an option. On t'other hand, I doubt anyone really tried.

[tencrush]

Much like the Tricorn (of which we have a chunk on display. With a plaque. That I had made.) and the Trinity car park, I doubt very much effort was put in, and I'm sure the effort that WAS put in was dismissed with the usual derision Luder's work attracts. "It's ugly" in the eyes of a few crumbly councilmen with no taste seems to be sufficient reason to tear the stuff down.

I think Buck Palace is ugly and takes up a lot of prime location land that Tesco's would love to get their hands on, but still.

[edithmatilda.livejournal.com]

Much agreement on the palace of bloated pointlessness, yes.

I'm torn on t'Rocket. Purely as a thing to look at and to be there I am very much in favour, but when my mother worked in mental health she kept having clients who'd been dumped in there straight out of hospital because they were in no position to argue and who had a horrifying time.

That said, were it a better-appreciated building it'd be sold off as smug flats instead of reduced to rubble.

[bandgeek01.livejournal.com]

I don't much about those buildings but that's sad that 2 of them are going to be torn down (as you said the middle one was already torn down).


Nicole

[tencrush]

I think pretty much everything Luder's ever designed in the UK has been demolished or is scheduled for demolition, and not one of those things are more than 40 years old. The British seem to really hate late sixties/early seventies Brutalist architecture, and pretty soon they're not going to have anywhere left to location shoot things like Life on Mars. Which is a real pity. That cold concrete-for-the-sake of it thing was very much Of Its Time, and it will be a shame to see all of it go.

[bandgeek01.livejournal.com]

That's a shame. I really like it. Once it's too late they'll realize what a good thing they had.


Nicole

[forgiveninasong.livejournal.com]

If you lived near anything like the carpark in Gateshead, or the Derwent Tower in Gateshead, then you'd understand exactly why they're pulling them down. Newcastle City was ruined by massive concrete ugly eyesores. Old buildings of perfect beauty were ripped down and replaced by sprawling concrete monstrosities. The car park in Gateshead can be seen from all around, and it's frankly ruining the skyskape above the city. Plus, there are plenty of new developments in Gateshead that mean that the car park is no longer needed. Also, there are loads of new housing developments in Gateshead, which also means that the Derwent Tower would just stand derilict.

The car park in Gateshead would have been knocked down years ago if it weren't for people protesting about it. Apart from the 'Get Carter' film (which I think it genius, and it didn't just use Gateshead carpark as regional monuments, there were loads more), the car park has no cultural or regional significance. It's just a big sprawling 1960's mess of a concrete building, and I'll look forward to see what they put in its place.

[/rant]

[tencrush]

I can fully understand the car park being torn down, it's a crumbling and huge THING in the middle of the landscape, and I can get into your argument that it wasn't the best place to build it in the first place, which is true. The demolition of the tower I really can't get into, it's a high rise tower, the design is interesting and playful and it could easily be redeveloped. My other half lived next to the Tricorn for years, which was derided by a very vocal part of the population of Portsmouth almost from the moment it was built and was torn down without a second thought to make way for absolutely nothing whatsoever. Not all of these buildings were built at the right place and time, I admit, but looking back, I think they will be missed.

[forgiveninasong.livejournal.com]

The carpark is built like...on the top of the highest point in Gateshead, and as you walk down any of the streets in Newcastle that head down towards the river, all you can see is the massive grey mess in Gateshead. Mind you, when you're in Gateshead, all you can see over in Newcaslte is the massive grey mess that is St James' Park aka the home of Newcastle United (fuckin'....booooo!). The car park isn't even safe to be used anymore, so I totally understand why it's being pulled down, and needed to be pulled down ages ago. I am almost positive that when the Derwent Tower gets pulled down, the land isn't just going to go to waste. New housing will be build.

Sometimes we just have to face up to the fact that things need to change. Although me and many other people are still pissed off that all the gorgeous buildings in Newcastle got pulled down in the 60s and 70s to be replaced with ugly concrete buildings.