Whilst in Manchester, we got the tram out to Salford Quays, which is an area of modern development started in the 1980s on the site of the old docks that served the Manchester Ship Canal in its heyday. Much of the brownfield site is now 'Media City UK', home to many media and creative organisations. The BBC moved much of its production from London around 2008 and since then ITV have also located some of its studios here.
One of the landmark developments, The Lowry arts centre, (left of photo above, and below) opened in 2000 and has two theatres, studios, gallery space, cafés and restaurants. It's named, of course, after the Manchester artist L S Lowry and holds a collection of his work. A futuristic design of shiny metal cladding on the outside and purple and orange walls inside, it already seems a little dated and tired to me.
On the opposite side of the dock is the Imperial War Museum North, another spectacular modern design opened in 2002. Built in an area that was heavily bombed during WWII, it is designed to be a metaphor for a world shattered by war, with its 'broken' structure.
Elsewhere in the Quays there are large areas of both low-rise and high-rise housing, with more being built. It's convenient for anyone who works in Media City or the city of Manchester, but somehow a bit soul-less to me, with little trace of the old, apart from the docks themselves and the connecting bridges that have been left.
Next time I'm listening to Radio 5 I'll have a picture in my mind of where it's coming from.
ReplyDeleteManchester has reinvented itself since the war.
ReplyDeleteI tend to like the architecture of the War Museum over the Arts Center...which has diagonal slits for windows just over regular everyday shaped windows...it looks cheap.
ReplyDeleteThis is where Coronation Street is filmed? I've watched it since the late 80s.
ReplyDeleteTerrific shots!
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