How serious this is at the moment I don't know

Leach Rhodes Walker

http://www.mesh-media.co.uk/

http://www.lrw.co.uk/

- edit: image removed by Jan on copyright request

Surely just some project of someone's, cannot be a serious proposal, surely?!!

Doesn't sit right at all does it?

Iv'e put Dr instead of De in the title - dozy git !!

Surely just some project of someone's, cannot be a serious proposal, surely?!!

Doesn't sit right at all does it?

Tiny footprint Ferge

cant say I like it

Well that made me laugh the Doctor Glass's house. Sounds like an analogy for the City of London.

All reflections, but no shadow cast.

Surely Man that is pre bust I mean doesn't Verre also mean a glass cup as used for alcohol as well??

So perhaps its the House of Dr Wine Glass?

By the way I actually like it. It reminds me of an Ikea lamp I have.

It position and it's cylindrical shape reminds me of Marina City in Chicago.

I like it, it doesn't batter the river into submission which is quite a feat.

needs to be twice the sze. floorplates are too small, it looks all out of scale in the renders, like a shrunken swiss re (gherkin/stmarys axe)

Oooh, yes please!

They have my permission to build it if they so wish. I like it.

scale looks a little wrong in that render, trying to judge the height in relation to the cjc building, about 110-120m ?

It looks eliptical in shape, not evenly circular.

Come on guys, with no curved buildings outside of London, this is a much needed skyline addition...the kind of project we now need to offset the boxy jobbies we currently have.

Will never happen? Lost floor space etc.

But still would be nice.

it looks daft...and the bottom is horrible...

is it just built on the car park of the building next door? it wouldn't fit...surely...

Hmm... a little too much like the Gherkin IMO but if it was closer to the Beetham I think it could form a nice cluster, and it's shape would contrast nicely to the Beetham too.

What is there not to love. Now we must live in hope.

in addition to my previous comment (written while a bit tipsy) I do really love it and hope it gets built (still looks 'wrong' in the renders, but after my picture of the HSR station who am I to judge...;) )

This is alright, but I don't think they've made it look quite enough like a butt plug.

I really like it ,, get it built .

Just another mickey mouse proposal which has no chance of ever materialising!

Well that made me laugh the Doctor Glass's house. Sounds like an analogy for the City of London.

All reflections, but no shadow cast.

Surely Man that is pre bust I mean doesn't Verre also mean a glass cup as used for alcohol as well??

So perhaps its the House of Dr Wine Glass?

By the way I actually like it. It reminds me of an Ikea lamp I have.

Can you give me the number of your dealer because I want some of whatever you're smoking :)

it looks daft...and the bottom is horrible...

is it just built on the car park of the building next door? it wouldn't fit...surely...

I quite like it actually.

It's a welcome addition to the skyline if it ever sees the light of day.

Just one question.

The people saying it looks daft or doesn't 'sit' well in it's floor plates..Are you qualified to make such a rash judgement? I only ask because I'm almost certain ARCHITECTS have worked on the proposal and I'm more inclined to listen to them than some forum geek with nothing good to say about anything.

Just a thought.

Looks good, but this is MANCHESTER, why the French name? Manchester is the city that gave us the Industrial Revolution, not some artsy fartsy French town.

I quite like it actually.

It's a welcome addition to the skyline if it ever sees the light of day.

Just one question.

The people saying it looks daft or doesn't 'sit' well in it's floor plates..Are you qualified to make such a rash judgement? I only ask because I'm almost certain ARCHITECTS have worked on the proposal and I'm more inclined to listen to them than some forum geek with nothing good to say about anything.

Just a thought.

:ohno:
some of us forum 'geeks' have design/construction related jobs where we work along side ARCHITECTS quite frequently. I amazed by how many I meet that fail to really think through the space inside and how it is used... I love this building, I'd love to see it built, I'm just hoping its just the render thats just a bit, well, pants....

(and my 1st comment was made after a few :cheers::cheers:)

I quite like it actually.

It's a welcome addition to the skyline if it ever sees the light of day.

Just one question.

The people saying it looks daft or doesn't 'sit' well in it's floor plates..Are you qualified to make such a rash judgement? I only ask because I'm almost certain ARCHITECTS have worked on the proposal and I'm more inclined to listen to them than some forum geek with nothing good to say about anything.

Just a thought.

The world is littered with evidence that ARCHITECTS get it wrong. Often. :)

The world is littered with evidence that ARCHITECTS get it wrong. Often. :)

To be fair to architects, and taking into consideration the budget and the clients requests, they have come up with some very poor designs and proposals.

No doubt some architects are thinking what the hell do you know. I know after 7 years of training I wouldn't come up with some of the dross(too harsh?) that has blighted our cities in the last ten or so boom years.

Lazy architecture and easy money, springs to mind.

Does anybody know who owns the site?

This (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=570846) proposal sprung to mind when I first read this thread, just wondered if they had anything to do with each other, what with the Leach Rhodes Walker link between both proposals.

If not, then there are potentially two towers proposed either side of the Irwell.

Its Tommy Tank.

Manchester has proved already it can do better than a cylindrical building. On three sides of the city, there will stand the Hilton, the CJC and soon, the Cooperative HQ. These, imo, are the standards to surpass, and this doesn't even reach the levels of design as the aforementioned.

The people saying it looks daft or doesn't 'sit' well in it's floor plates..Are you qualified to make such a rash judgement? I only ask because I'm almost certain ARCHITECTS have worked on the proposal and I'm more inclined to listen to them than some forum geek with nothing good to say about anything.

Just a thought.


I'm not going to get into an argument over this (despite it namely being aimed at my post), but I am in the industry (which makes me no more qualified to criticise anything than the next person, I'm not up my own arse!) but just thought I'd let you know.

Secondly, what point would there be in being on a forum discussing architecture if you were going to put 'oh wow, build it' to every single render or image that got posted up? To say it doesn't sit (and what is your problem with me using the term ..'sit', as you put it?) in its surroundings is not criticising the design itself, it is just (in my opinion (daft and geeky as it may be)) that the steep incline down to the river's edge, along with the small floorplate near the base and the actual mass of it, sat beside the angular and rather hefty CJC doesn't sit all that well together. I am sorry though for expressing my thought on it.

I know I make a rather unremarkable (no pun intended in the slight!) contribution to these boards and I am probably not a noticeable member but I have been a part of these boards for over 7 years and up until today I had thought I was perhaps allowed to say what I thought on something, sorry for the misunderstanding! :ohno:

Ha well said Fergus

I can see where your coming from Ferge about the loacation , but the footprint of the building is actually quite big , i think a tall building here would be great there if this is serious wait till we see the design at street level to see if it works .
Probably won't see the light of day anyway , coming on here seeing proposal after proposal go tits up dos'nt give me any confidence .

What wrong with the French name ? Manchester is in Europe afterall ,,, What do you think it should called ??? Oasis Plaza ???

Well I'm unsure about it. It's a great design, don't get me wrong, but it's a bit too much like the Gherkin, IMO ...

... plus, have any businesses/residential/hotel companies said they'll move in yet or is all this just empty words and empty renders?

Apparently Netto fancy moving HQ ha

Its curved , thats has close to the Gherkin has it gets , Manchester is screaming for a new tall building with a few curves . Can only dream .
And if was identical to the Gherkin i would'nt give a shit ,,, London dos'nt have the copy right for curved building's .

Oh god yeah I know we're screaming out for a tall building! I wouldn't mind if it got built tommorow! I was just simply questioning whether anyone has confirmed that they will use the building if it's built.

Presumably it would become part of Spinningfields?

As with the people saying that the base is too small, it's not:

http://i53.tinypic.com/29ygunt.jpg

60 metres + ! Imagine the 50 Metre swimming pool at the Aquatics Centre. This site is bigger!

60 by about 42-45 metres, I would say ... :banana:

I'm not being funny, but there's one way to find out if this proposal is still alive or not. Give LRW a ring, be upfront, say your from SCC, tell them there's a thread about it, and ask them if it is still being taken forward. Nothing more, nothing less. They will either say yes or no, then goodbye. If they refuse to give a answer, then it's probably still being taken forward.

What's their number? :)

http://www.lrw.co.uk/ >> Enter Website >> Contact (on the navigation bar).

There's a selection of numbers :)

Just say you were building a tower in London which was cancelled...you stumped up for 2000m2 of curved blue glass, do you think you may need some at some point?

I love it and hope it happens,it will add to an already interesting skyline.

I'm not going to get into an argument over this (despite it namely being aimed at my post), but I am in the industry (which makes me no more qualified to criticise anything than the next person, I'm not up my own arse!) but just thought I'd let you know.

Secondly, what point would there be in being on a forum discussing architecture if you were going to put 'oh wow, build it' to every single render or image that got posted up? To say it doesn't sit (and what is your problem with me using the term ..'sit', as you put it?) in its surroundings is not criticising the design itself, it is just (in my opinion (daft and geeky as it may be)) that the steep incline down to the river's edge, along with the small floorplate near the base and the actual mass of it, sat beside the angular and rather hefty CJC doesn't sit all that well together. I am sorry though for expressing my thought on it.

I know I make a rather unremarkable (no pun intended in the slight!) contribution to these boards and I am probably not a noticeable member but I have been a part of these boards for over 7 years and up until today I had thought I was perhaps allowed to say what I thought on something, sorry for the misunderstanding! :ohno:

Sorry ferge but it wasn't aimed at you at all.

I hadn't actually seen your post.

What I really should have said is I've noticed a lot of people just slag things off, rather dismissively without really being knowledgeable on the subject.

I don't know the first thing about architecture so I tend to keep my mouth shut about it and just read the posts.

Judging the reaction to my post I should keep it shut more often.

Sorry if I offended anyone.

I would be delighted if it (got built &) looked like the Gherkin.

sorry i must have missed something. what is 'CJC'?

CJC ....Civil Justice Centre, huge building on the right in the pic, aka the filing cabinet

sorry i must have missed something. what is 'CJC'?

Have you just been rescued from the mine in Chile?

Nice one Jrb.

There is a City joke in there about the Chile mining heroes but i cant be bothered.

Nice one Jrb.

There is a City joke in there about the Chile mining heroes but i cant be bothered.

I'm dieing to know what it is, but I've got a very good idea. :lol: :wink2:

So do we know if this is serious?

I couldn't find it on the LRW website and they still have the Pamona Island scheme on there so it's hard to know if it's up to date or not.

Honest that is the joke. I am sure there is also a LFC and MUFC joke in there as well.

As for this inkwell on the irwell whats its real story or it is another one of those heady renders from the heady noughties?

I love the render on the left, the right one not as much - but I think this is good proposal, something a little bit different for the city.
Depends on the cladding as always but thumbs up from me!

Good old ManCon have investigated this project: www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk

It's in their 'Grouch' section and unfortunately the news is very much as we had suspected.

Good old ManCon have investigated this project: www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk

It's in their 'Grouch' section and unfortunately the news is very much as we had suspected.

"‘It looks like a giant butt plug!’ argued some deviant or other."

HA! Infamy! Anonymous infamy. Infamnomyny.

Grouch article from ManCon

The building that never was

Much excitement on the Skyscraper City forum this week, over a rather marvellous looking building, called Maison De Verre, of House of Glass to you and I.

‘Build it!’ they cried. ‘We love/hate it!’ they proclaimed. ‘It looks like a giant butt plug!’ argued some deviant or other.
Alas a bit of research and The Grouch discovered that the firm responsible for design – who would probably prefer to stay nameless, despite featuring it on their website – had drawn it up for a possible buyer of the site pre-recession, but the deal had not gone ahead and the scheme was how just a distant memory, to be filed alongside all the other skyscrapers that Manchester never got to see.
It does look a bit like a sex toy, to be fair.

:lock:Lock it down boys

"I felt guilty as I sipped the first whisky of the afternoon in my 20th floor office. The new I Body app - I had bought from the New Afflecks Palace - alerted me to the harmful affects of strong liquor to my being.

But why not? It may be only 4pm, but as the winter sun descended over Manchester, I knew 2030 had been a grand year.

Well the city had seen its first intercontinental high speed train arrive with much celebration as must had occurred when Stephenson's Rocket came into town centuries ago.

What a day as well, All the celebs and all. Prime Minister Pamela Nash, the city Region Chancellor Heaton Parkincakes, Euro Commissioner Terry Christian and music from aged rockers the Tings Tings to that new Afro-emo grime electro jazz outfit those name I'd forgot.

But wasn't it both spooky, but great that retro animated live holographic show by the Happy Mondays. It was just as if they were still with us.

The last embers of the day's light tickled the glass. And how ironic that this building's first name was the French for a tumbler. Although the locals called it the Mega Butt Plug. We knew it as Jonathan Tower. I raised that verre to the man responsible for all this. Somewhere his memory lay long in this Ikea shaped structure. His legacy a new global media empire, with offices of Confident nature in Berlin, Tehran, New York and Grimsby. Centred on a pink and purple lit gherkin shaped tower on the Irwell.

I poured another whisky. Turned to my deputy editor Pierre Seasoned-Best and thought lets close it while we can."

Give me that Picciddily building which is never going to happen any day.

:lock::banana::pepper::cucumber::banana2::cry: (speakers on)

1xdroCd1DzE&feature=fvst

A stern Field Marshall JR Buccaroo cast his ever critical eyes over the new recruit at the Carlos Tevez barracks.

"I see the First Battalion of the Mancunian People's Cyber Armoured Brigade are all turned out," he remarked to his willing junior lieutenant from Dusseldorf General Otto von Longur.

"Ya Komrade I have instructed General Joy of the Division Eight Two to immediate attack the Liverpool Forum with the most destructive and annoying sonic weapon from his liar at the Picciddily Piccalilli mustard gas sauce Tower."

"Mein Gott mein Petite Hauptman!" a startled JR croaked. "No! No! Not the Freddie Mercury!"

"Ya mein Bauhaus chair! Yes another bites the dust!" von Longur replied harshly with great glee.

Good butt plugs have broader bases.

Or so I'm told.

Erm so you say Che. So you say.

Perhaps its a secret Dan Dare rocket, Merely disguised as an unusually shaped sexual device by the Irwel,l as curiously identified by Monsieur Slow Burn.

Waiting per chance to defend the airspace above Hulme from invading aliens and Rangers supporters?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liyjx6WLskE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS6PS4UxD_0