Im just curious but i was wondering (more than just tall buildings) what is it that you'd love to seen built in birmingham???? what do u think birmingham really needs and would go towards making it a truly amazing city????

think of all the cities world wide and what makes you envy them???? paris and the eiffle tower? .... Prague and its gothic architecture? ....chicago and its towers? ... Hong Kong and its airport? ..... Berlin and its train station? ....London and its tume network?????

It could be totally anything! if u were a mayor, what you be your flagship project????

at the moment, my money is on a brand new train station, but then, i would love to do what dresden is doing and in some parts of the city centre, totally rebuild some of its best traditional buildindings!......starting with the library!

Id like to see a sport city located somewhere like park central. Being the capital of sport in the UK it makes sense and would boost our international image. A nice 25,000 seat athletic stadium, 10,000 seat aquatics centre, a few Hockey stadiums and co would be ideal - a hall of fame museum, of all the athletes who have competed and broke world records in the city, cafes, bars, shops etc ... be a real attraction for sport fans.

Id like to see a sport city located somewhere like park central. Being the capital of sport in the UK it makes sense and would boost our international image. A nice 25,000 seat athletic stadium, 10,000 seat aquatics centre, a few Hockey stadiums and co would be ideal

I think you would already have to have those venues built to make a valid claim of being 'capital of sport in the UK'

New train station would be a good start.

I think you would already have to have those venues built to make a valid claim of being 'capital of sport in the UK'

New train station would be a good start.

We are already capital of sport in the UK, and we already have Athlectic stadiums, practice arenas, NIA, and co. We didnt get European and UK sport titles for nothing you know ;)

Come 2007 and Birmingham would've hosted the World Indooor and European Champs twice in 9 years

i'd like to see lots of mueseums such as a mueseum of film, art, a space muesuem. basically a learning city, but its never gonna happen, this city cant even build alibary never mind a train station or a new stadium

i'd like to see lots of mueseums such as a mueseum of film, art, a space muesuem. basically a learning city, but its never gonna happen, this city cant even build alibary never mind a train station or a new stadium
Don't be so negative pirlo. The library is not failing because our council can't do it, it's failing because the council won't do it. The words: toys, pram, throwing, out of; spring to mind. So don't base your opinion on this one setback.
A learning city sounds like a good idea. We already have several very good art galleries. A museum of film would be a good attraction. Particularly if it was sited close to the place where celluloid was discovered (does anyone know where that was?).

Just did a bit of rummaging on the internet for the discovery of celluloid ...
Well: it wasn't a discovery but an invention and it wasn't celluloid but Parkesine, the base material for celluloid (come on, I was close!). It was, though, the first man-made plastic and celluloid is directly derived from it, by treating it with a chemical called Camphor.
It was invented in 1862 by Alexander Parkes, probably in the Jewellery Quarter on the premises of Elkington & Sons (possible site for a film museum?).
There you go then, I bet you weren't expecting a history lesson when you opened this thread!

yes but that is the problems were likely to be stuck with this council for some time, their nagativity is likely to put people off, i can see further things being screwed in the city because of them

How about a Cadbury's Theme Park - Curly Wurly rollercoaster, Dairy Milk Button Dodge Cars, Crunchie Test Drive etc etc - go down quite well me thinks ;) :cheers1:

How about a Cadbury's Theme Park - Curly Wurly rollercoaster, Dairy Milk Button Dodge Cars, Crunchie Test Drive etc etc - go down quite well me thinks ;) :cheers1:

A Curly Wurly rollercoaster - that would be amazing!!! :rofl:

How about a molten chocolate log flume?

Chocolate aside, I think the council are on the ropes on a couple of issues folks! Birmingham Post reports that the Tube is on ice and the go-ahead will be given for the tram lines (thank goodness! I did wonder what that was doing in the Local Transport Plan last week) and the library is going to scrutiny. I think I am going to find out the right people to write to and send them a lovely letter applying pressure to give us our Rogers library...

Re: something being built, I think we need an iconic cultural or sporting building - something that when people around the world see it they think 'Birmingham' - the potential new stadium has that factor I think, but maybe something like Pirlo said - a museum of film/art/creativity with a huge spike rising from it (with an observation deck?) that would contribute to the skyline?

Thats what the needle would give us - a learning and historical centre but with a landmark to say "This is Birmingham" ...

[QUOTE=Biosonic] Birmingham Post reports that the Tube is on ice and the go-ahead will be given for the tram lines (thank goodness!

QUOTE]

If that's correct it's the best news we've had for some time.Lets get on with the bloody thing!!

more parks in the centre maybe, there are lots of smaller derelict sites thats could be turned into small community gardens and pocket parks. these would enhance the environment no end and making them community parks may help stop vandalism, as the local community would be directly involved ?

A Big monumental statue, ala Angel of the North, but obviously very different. Every City seems to have one now....the best in my opinion is the Spike in Dublin ?

Downgrading the A38 through the city centre, its like a 10 lane motorway in places and ruins the street scene where it cuts through?

Putting Permanent cafes and bars in the middle of 5 ways island (like the spiral cafe in the bullring, or costa in bridleyplace) a few around the edge where the trees are, and then completely re landscape the whole space to a high standard...CCTV as this series of underpasses could be very special but as is lets the whole area down and feels unsafe at night

Allowing developers to 'adopt' a statue from the councils store, they have lots of pieces of art in storage which should be on public display, but they council cant or wont fund the restoration and siting. Allowing developers to pay for resoration and siting outside there new developments could solve this problem, the ownership stays with the public and after the initial siting, the public also looks after maintenance ? I am sure many developers would be up for this as they are getting virtually free public art gracing there new offices etc ? A case in point, the new 1 Colmore Square plaza looks shabby already after 1 year....a piece of sculpture could instantly have made this space look less windswept.

Putting Permanent cafes and bars in the middle of 5 ways island (like the spiral cafe in the bullring, or costa in bridleyplace) a few around the edge where the trees are, and then completely re landscape the whole space to a high standard...CCTV as this series of underpasses could be very special but as is lets the whole area down and feels unsafe at night

.

Interesting ideas Brum 2003.The Five Ways island will definately change a little if the Metro goes ahead.A station is to be placed under the island with stairs and lift taking passengers down to ground level.A good opportunity to place a couple of cafés at the entrance.

Brum2003, I really think your adopt-a-statue is a clever and workable scheme. I think you should put this idea forward to the council.

Regarding a large monument, I think we should have something next to Spaghetti junction - possibly sited in the park there. That would make the monument visible to all the drivers who pass through Birmingham on the M6 and would mark the main entrance to the city. It would also offer a welcome break to the stress of rush hour driving.
How about a grand arch over the Aston Expressway or, since the expressway is elevated, a loop that the carriageway passes through the centre of.

Brum2003, I really think your adopt-a-statue is a clever and workable scheme. I think you should put this idea forward to the council.

Regarding a large monument, I think we should have something next to Spaghetti junction - possibly sited in the park there. That would make the monument visible to all the drivers who pass through Birmingham on the M6 and would mark the main entrance to the city. It would also offer a welcome break to the stress of rush hour driving.
How about a grand arch over the Aston Expressway or, since the expressway is elevated, a loop that the carriageway passes through the centre of.

i dont recon we should waste the park that is there but instead use the 3 plots of land that are in the middle of spaghetti junction......... 3 spires differeing in height, right in the middle!

i would love to do what dresden is doing and in some parts of the city centre, totally rebuild some of its best traditional buildindings!......starting with the library!

they would never do that here, those in power hate our history the pricks ,how wonderful for someone to have the incite to do that..rebuild the old libary etc and stephenson place !

why is it that u see statues everywhere in london and hardly any in the smaller cities, i love statues !

I've got some requests and I know I've posted a couple of them a while back but they were on a now missing thread. I think all of these would be good.

An agile, independent and inclusive architecture centre & gallery in Eastside. The Architecture Foundation in London are getting a new Zaha Hadid building and CUBE in Manchester have a high profile public face. Why doesn't MADE? For a city of 1 million people frankly it's embarrassing that we don't have a similar resource which is actively bridging the gap between decision-makers, design professionals and the public.
http://www.made.uk.net/ http://www.cube.org.uk/ http://www.architecturefoundation.org.uk/

More water and bikes. I'd like a major new wharf & canal reopening/building program and an extensive metro & cycle network and bikes everywhere, so Birmingham was a bit like a less formal English Amsterdam (does that make sense?) but without the whorehouses

Second runway at BHX and the County of West Midlands renaming Greater Birmingham

Dragstrip & Drift circuit out by spaghetti junction where noise wouldn't be a problem. Call it something cool like Dunlop Motor Complex (DMC)

Birmingham war museum based in the anchor nuclear bunker

An NHL standard ice rink in the city centre and a series of olympic sized swimming pools throughout the region

and the BCC marketing dept need to work a bit slicker too. It may have missed many people but we've got the world's best cyclists running through the city in a few weeks and we're not shouting about it even when the Tour de France was running :no: http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/the_race_stages/stage5.htm

Can I have a planetarium please bob?

All of the above, plus a heated rooftop / elevated outdoor pool with stunning views, where one could only book once a month giving everybody a chance of going.

Again - thanks to me trawling my own personal archives - I would find a way of reviving THIS audacious proposal - for some outrageous landmark gateways to the city that would be built straddling the Gravelly Hill Interchange!!


http://img58.photobucket.com/albums/v176/MartianG/GravellyHillPlan1.jpg
http://img58.photobucket.com/albums/v176/MartianG/GravellyHillPlan2.jpg

Indeed, and thanks to my own photographic archive thingy I can show you how glorious Spagjunc already is.....but a big fuckofflandmarkdowhat would be nice there

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0095.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0105.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0074.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0061.jpg

Interesting article Martin G......got any more stuff like that?Nice pics Smiley.

Can I have a planetarium please bob?

well one reality !! they are building a planetarium at Millenium Point, its fully funded too x not sure when it opens but cant be too long

... and thanks to my own photographic archive thingy I can show you how glorious Spagjunc already is.....
Indeed, the article described Spaghetti as a monstrous eyesore?!
Okay, its not a subtle or delicate landmark but there is plenty of art in this world that is described as brutal and grand. It's art all the same, and people still admire it for what it is.

Spaghetti even has an elegant side to it - look at those curves ...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0105.jpg