Chips

http://tinypic.com/ilknme.jpg

http://tinypic.com/ilko0g.jpg

Just when you thought Manchester’s new apartment buildings were beginning to look the same, along comes ’Chips’, so called because it looks like chips on a plate.

Designed by Alsop Architects, who dreamed up the Strategic Framework for the whole of New Islington, Chips is one of the most significant buildings in the scheme.

Overlooking canals on both sides, with a restaurant at ground level, this is one of the best addresses in New Islington. Clad with warm timber panels and stamped with the names of places from where Manchester once imported tea, this is a building that will be famous as soon as it is built.

A basement car park provides enough secure car storage to provide one to one parking.

Developer:
Urban Splash

Designer:
Alsop Architects (Strategic Framework)

25/01:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2303/2220569946_bf6e08c241_o.jpg

14/02:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/Chips140208001.jpg?t=1203247778

Didn't realise quite how gravity defyingly ace the cantilever would be...

Those small, low windows that are placed in the centre of the wall rather than at head height seem a bit impractical.

See the units on the lowest floor with windows in, right in the middle of the picture. They are doubled up at strange heights on other sections too.

Hmmn. Bigger than I thought. But no matter, it would be nice if it was Miami white, with aqua or pastel highlights. But I am really not looking forward to all that "newspaper" graffiti. I fear it will end up looking like something from Hulme.

Can't wait to see how the cladding turns out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/Picture083-1.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/Chips130408001.jpg?t=1208113770
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/Chips130408002.jpg?t=1208113813

Nice to see cladding finally going on.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/Chips290508.jpg?t=1212089275

ignore.................moved to tutti fruiti thread.

It's still rank

You know, if they can just leave off the naff graffiti, this might turn out all right. I like the white and the ziggurat complexity. Mind you, it's a tad bigger than it looked in the picture. Just a tad. A monstro tad. I guess the ten-foot tall people help:

http://tinypic.com/ilknme.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/Chips140208001.jpg?t=1203247778

The cladding in reality appears to be darker than on the renders, so this should help give a more formal and conservative, although TBH, this is a favourite of mine and think it will look fantastic when completed.

The cladding with the writing on is now stating to take shape , this is going to look fantastic , :)

The cladding with the writing on is now stating to take shape , this is going to look fantastic , :)
I should have posted this 20 days ago when I took it from the 216 bus. Sorry about the crappy composition.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/carlf/Manchester/IMG_6726a.jpg

That's mad. :)

Today:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd63/manchestercastle/chips1.jpg

Had to see the cladding with my own eyes....

Closer.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd63/manchestercastle/chips2.jpg

wow- coming on. not seen it in months.

today - 3 pics:
http://www.nickgrayson.net/ssc/2008_08_15/IMG_6311%20copy.jpg

http://www.nickgrayson.net/ssc/2008_08_15/IMG_6319%20copy.jpg

http://www.nickgrayson.net/ssc/2008_08_15/IMG_6324%20copy.jpg

It's like those crazy Dutch.

Aw now, that brown and that graffiti is just (words fail me)... shite. Look, it even says shit on the building. Somebody is taking the piss here.

http://www.nickgrayson.net/ssc/2008_08_15/IMG_6311%20copy.jpg

How did they determine what words would appear on the building? Didn't realise the writing was going to be so large actually

From an interview with Alsop:

The building will be clad in a timberveneered rain screen system, with letters and names such as Bombay, Istanbul and Yokohama — destinations that recall Manchester’s Industrial Revolution heritage and its status as the first global exporter via the canal network — screenprinted on to the cladding.

Can't see any of these yet....

I think I can see Mersey (to the left) and Ashton (to the right) in the lettering, hardly international destinations like Bombay and Yokohama. It is crazy and I know what Farsight is saying, it's not easy on the eye and certainly not somewhere I'd choose to get dripped up for.

well i'm just gonna wait til this one's finished before making up my mind. i was struck when i saw it the other day. manchester the only city with the balls for a building like this? or just a naff building?
i've always liked the renders. but then my tastes can be barmy sometimes.

http://www.newislington.co.uk/tuttifrutti/where-its-at.asp

how nice does that animated panorama look? :drool:
i've been drooling too much lately.

I think the renders are of a poor quality and only show the lettering in a subtle way. Once all of it is in place and the scaffolding is removed it's going to hurt your eyes! I certainly wouldn't want to be in a property overlooking this either, it's going to get boring very quickly. Imagine having a huge motorway sign just outside of your window with various destinations...

re: thread title
i think this might be 9 storeys not 6?

Wow! I'm shocked by the negative response that this is invoking. I reckon this will look fab when finished. Another over-hang for the city, the 3 layers (chips) all off-set and the wood finish with print will look a lot better as a whole. In the greater scheme of things- ie New Islington, then for me this lats down a great marker.

Its the backbone of new islington and it was designed by Alsop. Its supposed to be a bit wacky.

Its in a fringe location, which is where these types of devlopments should be placed. If it did turn out to be an utter disaster its not exactly next to the town hall. If you can't be bold here where can you be?

Anyway it looks quite exciting to me. I look forward to the wraps coming off.

Bah, wake up mugs. Look at what's staring you in the face. Alsop is a sneering southern pseud taking the piss out of northern oiks with this dog-turd-brown "chips" plastered with graffiti. He was in bother about "The Public" in West Brom in the weekend papers. The guy's a piss artist, not an architect.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2006/oct/24/architecture.communities

http://www.newislington.co.uk/tuttifrutti/where-its-at.asp

how nice does that animated panorama look? :drool:
i've been drooling too much lately.

looks like one of those polaris world adverts...

Bah, wake up mugs. Look at what's staring you in the face. Alsop is a sneering southern pseud taking the piss out of northern oiks with this dog-turd-brown "chips" plastered with graffiti. He was in bother about "The Public" in West Brom in the weekend papers. The guy's a piss artist, not an architect.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2006/oct/24/architecture.communities

:?

Do you know, up until today the "Chips" thing had never occurred to me (I didn't read the thread introduction). I'd always assumed it meant something constructive like Cosmopolitan Housing Islington Project or something. If it is indeed Chips because it looks like chips then this guy really is a cock, fair enough he's done some library that's won accolades but even that looks like something that some CAD jockey like myself could've have knocked out in a couple of hours. I'd love to get a job like his, thinking up stupid ideas then sitting back watching the critics try to out-do themselves coming up with in-depth explanations of the interaction of rectangular forms and other shit. Is it me? Am I missing something?

Do you know, up until today the "Chips" thing had never occurred to me (I didn't read the thread introduction). I'd always assumed it meant something constructive like Cosmopolitan Housing Islington Project or something. If it is indeed Chips because it looks like chips then this guy really is a cock, fair enough he's done some library that's won accolades but even that looks like something that some CAD jockey like myself could've have knocked out in a couple of hours. I'd love to get a job like his, thinking up stupid ideas then sitting back watching the critics try to out-do themselves coming up with in-depth explanations of the interaction of rectangular forms and other shit. Is it me? Am I missing something?

So if it does stand for what u think it does then this is a good archtectural desgn but if it doesnt and he's designed it because it was simply stacking 3 chips on top of each other then its not. Is that what your saying, certainly sounds like it. You must remember IWMN was designed simply by smashing a pot.

I think it makes a nice change from the boring identikit apartment blocks that the likes of Dandara have been producing, and what I've seen of it so far looks quite striking.

One reservation I would have is that putting the graffitti on might look like a bit of an invitation to taggers etc. to put their 'work' on the building, which would annoy me if I lived there.

Hi-fi, they are supposed to look like chips:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/days_out/s/143/143235_supercity_vision_goes_on_show.html

The lettering is meant to represent the newspaper they're wrapped in. No kidding.

All: if this was pastel pale with white and turquiose or a little pink like something that's stepped out of Miami I think it could look pretty good. But the way it's panning out I'm not happy. As you can no doubt perceive!

This is a great design, its different, its unorthodox, easily recognisable..works for its canal side location (please tell me its next to the canal now I've said that, :|) the lettering works, the colours are bold.. its crisp (no its chips, :|) and it shows that Alsop can deliver could designs when someone actually reminds him that people tend to want to go in buildings so it helps to make them a little normal.

Why am I not suprised that Farsight doesn't like it? Seems very little is pleasing to your eyes?

So if it does stand for what u think it does then this is a good archtectural desgn but if it doesnt and he's designed it because it was simply stacking 3 chips on top of each other then its not. Is that what your saying, certainly sounds like it. You must remember IWMN was designed simply by smashing a pot.

From an architectural point of view this really is nothing special. I think at the moment it looks like a student accommodation block but I'll reserve my final judgement until the wraps come off it and I see the full picture. I don't care who it's been designed by, it's an object, it just is. One thing that really gets on my nerves is something that's advertised primarily on the back of who's produced it, this is especially prevalant with films, eg; from the makers of...from the director of..., who gives a shit? All I want to know is if it's any good or not. My main gripe was with the name of the development, the bloke's obviously sat down and listed a number of "northern" stereotypes and plumped for one of the obvious ones, that's what I was having a moan at.

Hi-fi, they are supposed to look like chips:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/days_out/s/143/143235_supercity_vision_goes_on_show.html

The lettering is meant to represent the newspaper they're wrapped in. No kidding.

*shakes head

The point of New Islington, of all English Partnerships projects, is to create schemes that are ambitious and beyond the norm. The aspiration is to produce an exemplar of creative modern housing. Fair enough if you don't like what the results are, but I find it hard to see how you can knock the intentions. The whole area has a long way to go, a lot of the schemes will look jarring in isolation, hopefully the overall development will work as a whole.

Alsop, regardless of what you think of him as a character and a designer, is actually renowned for his consultation work with the communities he works within; likewise the FAT designed houses were the winners of a competition judged by the residents. The presumption that the architect's designs are some sort of arrogant imposition belittles the community involvement in the process. The client knew what they were getting when they hired him as masterplanner, something different, something that would stand out for good or bad, and thats both in terms of the masterplan and his individual buildings; but that's the point.

Interesting that the City Lofts development adjacent doesn't seem to be receiving any criticism, while in my view being quite unpleasantly monolithic and blank in elevation. Whether architecture should aim to appease appease in its banality, or strive to be something more unique is a matter of opinion.

I actually am undecided about Chips, its was always going to depend on how the cladding looked in reality, if anything it appears to have failed in not being bold enough.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/Chips200908.jpg?t=1221993978

I just know this is going to look great.

Looking at the most recent pictures posted in this thread it looked as if this was nearing completion externally. Haven't been around there for ages as it's a bit out of my way. Anyone passed it lately and got an update?

Taken today.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/Picture444806.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/Picture444813.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/Picture444814.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/Picture444816.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/Picture444815.jpg

Good work JRB- You can just about make out the brightly coloured edging that adourns the infills of the balconies.

The outcome looks amazing

http://1person1million.com/img/158/r08c1006bidc/biggrin.gif

C:\andy\BOOK\CHIPS Folder\Links\1175_0312a.jpg

highrise, you need to upload that to the internet first, try photobucket or something

It worries me that there seems to be no progress on this. I think its on hold.....

I wouldn't have thought a project this far along would be put on hold unless contractor or developer were actually going under, it has always gone along at quite a gentle pace.

It worries me that there seems to be no progress on this. I think its on hold.....

since when? seems to be progressing fine to me. it is a massive project and they may not be in as much hurry as other developers. construction projects can appear from the outside to grind to a halt during the fit-out. just check out pan peninsula towers near canary wharf. i was there in i think february or something and to look at them from the outside you can almost tell no difference. they are still going ahead at speed though.

Cladding wise, it does seem a bit...well, slow. They've done little if not nothing on the exterior since cladding the upper chip. It's been like that for about a month now.

Maybe the cladding supplier has had a rush on, must be tough when you have zero orders to fulfil.

Perhaps there was a spelling mistake.

I'm trying to upload these again, hope it works this timehttp://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr180/andreaslebisch/1175_0312a.jpgThis is a working drawing of the southwest elevation of chipshttp://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr180/andreaslebisch/Nov08.jpg the latest site progress: chips is still going strong - completion is May 2009.

The first post are the planning drawings of the south west elevation of chips. The lettering on the building does reflect the industrial heritage of manchester and it spell the waterways that are in and around manchester like Ashton and Rochdale canals, Mersey and Irwell rivers, etc...

Thanks comdot for your tip on photobucket it's worked

Also, I can absolutely guarantee that this building is nine storeys and not six: its made up of three 'chips' of three levels each. The reason for the stacking of chips is that the overall building seems lower and smaller that it actually is. A trick that seems to have worked, judging from the wrong classification.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3201/3031361222_6875fc131b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/3031360576_9104f5e7f4.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/3030521511_877370868f.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/3030520183_7dcf799758.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/Chips_211108.jpg?t=1227272922

Wow! Almost done! it looks interesting.

@JRB
Your picture with houses from FAT and Chips in the background is cool!

It looks shit.

^^
Hard to tell what with all the scaffolding and sheets covering 3/4's of the building, but so far I like :)

It looks like it did months ago. Its going no where.

Taken today. The second chip revealed...a very dark brown chip - the kind you leave on your plate because they've been overcooked.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/Chips22012009.jpg?t=1232640552

I eat them :runaway:

You crazy. Maybe I'll take a risk and try one next time...

Seems like there's only three chips.

Not quite enough to make a decent butty then...

Is the last one going to be green:shifty:

Alsop delivers. i love it (L)

I was worried all three chips were going to be bright orange.

My camera picked up a worrying addition:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/SteKnight/2009_0122Christmas20080007.jpg?t=1232741811
I hope it doesn't set a precedent.

How much will people be paying for these? you'd think the developers would have wired it all for cable tv

Surely people aren't already living there are they???

http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt298/islandmonster/P02-03-09_1351.jpg

http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt298/islandmonster/P02-03-09_1352.jpg

My camera picked up a worrying addition:
I hope it doesn't set a precedent.

How much will people be paying for these? you'd think the developers would have wired it all for cable tvYou can wire a development for Sky too and is very common, I'd guess that's what it is.

Surely people aren't already living there are they???Actually last week when I went past one evening there were a lot of lights on, not that it means people are in.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3394665803_ddcd7f6e7a.jpg?v=0

Those that doubted Alsop and Chips.

Alsop site.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/chips.jpg

Another pic of Chips from Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36994421@N08/3402683471/

It would be a travesty if this building got burnt down as the result of kitchen fire caused by a deep fryer.

It would be a travesty if this building got burnt down as the result of kitchen fire caused by a deep fryer.

I think they should fill it with Morbidly Obese people...

I think they should fill it with Morbidly Obese people...
I know a lot of obese people who are very happy...

i hope that blue fence comes down when its finished

There's actually a bit of cladding on the lower chip. It's a reddish-brown, somewhere in between the tone of the two other chips. I think this'll look ace. It'll win awards, but that wouldn't be too difficult as there'll hardly be any completed projects in 2009 to compete with it.

The tow-path along the canal through Piccadilly Village is open again. The wander through the tunnel under great ancoats street, past Isis/Islington Wharf and to Chips is quite pleasant. It detriorates pretty rapidly afterwards though.

Are there any plans for a footbridge over the canal where Chips is? The new Pollard Street Metro station will be literally on the other side of the canal, but unless you fancy scaling the lock on your way to work every morning a walk via the nearest bridge makes a 30 second walk 5 minutes.

OK enough is enough. Somebody has to say it.

You've got to be true to yourselves and admit it---This has to be one of the daftest looking buildings in Manchester!!!

Come on, we can't go on thinking it's 'cute' and 'different' and 'innovative' when it's really a pile of hot steaming dog turds can we?

Or are we gonna continue with The Emperors New Clothes syndrome?



Imho.

OK enough is enough. Somebody has to say it.

You've got to be true to yourselves and admit it---This has to be one of the daftest looking buildings in Manchester!!!

Come on, we can't go on thinking it's 'cute' and 'different' and 'innovative' when it's really a pile of hot steaming dog turds can we?

Or are we gonna continue with The Emperors New Clothes syndrome?



Imho.


LOL , I actually like it :)

They should get Frank Gehry to built a salt and vinegar building next to it.

I love it. I'd live in there in an instant.

OK enough is enough. Somebody has to say it.

You've got to be true to yourselves and admit it---This has to be one of the daftest looking buildings in Manchester!!!

Come on, we can't go on thinking it's 'cute' and 'different' and 'innovative' when it's really a pile of hot steaming dog turds can we?

Or are we gonna continue with The Emperors New Clothes syndrome?



Imho.

In one word SMP.

Wrong! :)

OK enough is enough. Somebody has to say it.

You've got to be true to yourselves and admit it---This has to be one of the daftest looking buildings in Manchester!!!

Come on, we can't go on thinking it's 'cute' and 'different' and 'innovative' when it's really a pile of hot steaming dog turds can we?

Or are we gonna continue with The Emperors New Clothes syndrome?



Imho.

I think it's brilliant, but then I've always been a fan of naked emperors.

I think it's the elephant in the room.

Of course when I see 'in the flesh', I may just change my mind.

Still looks daft though.

If the walls are well insulated unlike many a new build then it gets points from me. :yes: but subtract points if you can hear your neighbour rubbing one out though :no:

An unfortunate colour: dog turd brown.

....but I like it! (Sorry about the exposure i'm still getting used to the camera)

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x284/gshutty/DSC00313.jpg

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x284/gshutty/DSC00305.jpg

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x284/gshutty/DSC00309.jpg
(Highlights the overhangs)
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x284/gshutty/DSC00308.jpg

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x284/gshutty/DSC00311.jpg
(suitably funky entrance)

Nice pic's GS. The thing that stands out is the quality finish. Outside and inside.(from the glimpse into the building) Obviously Horseplop is involved from start to finish. Great building and finish.

I like it. I think they've pulled it off thanks to the materials which look to be good quality.

The place names on the cladding could have been a bit more exotic though :)

Wow, that's the first time I've seen it without the scaffolding. I like it. It's certainly a break from the norm.

It looks bleedin horrible. Like some tacky health centre on a run down estate trying to look modern.

Well worth the wait, I reckon.

i love the jelly beans in that entrance lobby

Strange that you can see the supports through the cladding? and it's a real pity New Islington never really got off the drawing board. Obviously in the future it will but at the moment chips just looks like its next to a bombsite.

there are a few empty plots but generally they don't have that much impact. they are surrounded by rather large buildings. also there is a lot of landscaping, grassy areas and a huge... what's the word... water feature?

One for nobheads to write in to the MEN about.

I like it.

One for nobheads to write in to the MEN about.

I like it.

Who cares what's written in the MEN , its full of shit .

It is another project to go into the Alsop portfolio that shows with a bit of refinement he can design some original buildings that give something new to their environment, and because it is an easily recognisable Alsop it already (for me) puts it up there with Ontario Art College, Peckham Library etc even if the design is not as elaborate.

Plus, another benefit in my books is that its a contemporary, canal-side development.. and given the new-found popularity in our canal routes and boating I think it is paramount to have iconic new buildings alongside the historical, industrial buildings that defined their purpose in the first place.

Frankly, for a building to be good architecture in most cases should surely be one that breaks opinion very sharply? Just like a piece of art... If we didn't have new buildings that caused such polar opinions, would we every create anything different?

http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm469/carlf18/001.jpg

http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm469/carlf18/003.jpg

http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm469/carlf18/006.jpg

Totally love this building now its finished

If that doesn't win a string of award's, I'll buy a United shirt and wear it for a week. Stunning and wonderful. Great pic Hifi.

saw this building in this weeks AJ, it looks fantastic!

It's very quirky which I like, some will hate it of course but boo to them :)

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/residential/chips-new-islington-manchester-by-alsop-architects/5202419.article

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/pictures/550x400fitpad[150]/0/2/4/1203024_CR4033_29.jpg

Standing at the centre of Manchester’s almost empty New Islington site, Alsop Architects’ Chips carries a great weight of expectation, writes Rowan Moore. Photography by Christian Richters


Developer Urban Splash’s New Islington project in Manchester has been so talked about, so celebrated, so published, that it comes as a shock to be reminded that it is mostly not there. It is largely an empty plain awaiting regeneration; nibbled at the edges by FAT’s boisterous Woodward Place housing and a quieter terrace by de Metz Forbes Knight. Soil has been decontaminated, and the existing Ashton and Rochdale canals have been extended to create future waterside living. A kind of high street, with fine landscaping by Grant Associates and bus shelters by FAT, stands awaiting buildings to line its sides. The listed remnant of Ancoats Hospital awaits restoration. Otherwise, void.

It will remain so for longer than anyone would have hoped, which gives greater importance to Chips, the new nine-storey block of 142 one, two and three-bedroom flats designed by Alsop Architects. The building must, for now, command the expanse before it. It must be a billboard for a future that will arrive at an unknown date.

Fuelled by Alsop’s customary energy, Chips makes a good flagship. It is a big building, 100m long and 14m wide, comparable to the Victorian industrial structures that survive in this area. Giant silk-screened lettering, honouring the names of the region’s canals, is equal to the scale of the site, as is the bold division of the nine floors into bands of three, in yellowish, purplish and reddish hues. Shallow wiggles in each layer, misaligning with each other, animate the block. The middle band of the horizontal tricoleur, or ‘layer cake’, is the darkest of the three, and projects at each end into 9m cantilevers in a deliberate attempt to create a sense of heaviness, offset by jittering window rhythms and colourful recesses for balconies.

The sun may not shine much in Manchester, but when it does we sit by the canal
The block has presence enough to mark out a space in the potentially formless zone in which it sits. Aligned with the Ashton Canal, and placed hard against its towpath, Chips reinforces one of the stronger existing elements of the site. It also successfully subdivides its bulk, which could have been oppressive. The building is not inhabited yet, but it looks like a place of inhabitation.

The purpose of Chips is not just to boost confidence in the New Islington project, and look good while it waits for further development to arrive. Chips is part of a masterplan, developed by Alsop after consultation with residents of the blighted Cardroom estate, which used to stand on this site. A local pub was re-opened for the consultation, having closed because, according to practice founder Will Alsop, ‘no landlord wanted to risk his life by running it’. It was made into a meeting place for professionals and residents, who he says were ‘a vociferous lot’. One of the stronger statements to emerge from residents was that ‘the sun may not shine much in Manchester, but it does sometimes, and when it does we want to sit by canals’.

From this came Alsop’s masterplan, which proposed infiltrating the site with water, and creating a series of ‘fingers’, long, narrow peninsulas carrying oblong apartment blocks, with a scattering of cafés and other facilities to enliven the quays. The areas between the fingers were to be ‘semi-private’ places for the benefit of the apartment blocks. A more public zone would run north-south across the site, alongside the canal. It embodied Alsop’s belief in the importance of a ‘three-dimensional masterplan, one that gives people an idea of what they’re voting for’. It wasn’t quite as extravagant in its imagery as other northern Alsop masterplans – no Tuscan hill town as he proposed for Barnsley, not quite the lake he wanted in Bradford, no giant teddy bears as seen in an image for Middlesbrough – but it was still communicated in vivid and colourful pictures.

Chips is the first of the fingers, and includes the beginnings of the canalside living envisaged in the masterplan. Water will run along the long southern side, the short western end, and halfway along the northern side. An essential element of the hoped-for new community is a double-height, glass-walled, water-surrounded café at the western end, with studio/workshops at ground level.

Meanwhile, on the inside, the architect has sought to make something of the restricted nature of low-cost housing. The brief required every flat to be accessible and Disability Discrimination Act-compliant. Affordable and market housing is distributed randomly and without differentiation. The building’s BREEAM environmental assessment rating is excellent, with the help of a combined heat and power plant. Floor-to-ceiling heights, at 2.65m, have a touch of generosity, while space standards are what one of Alsop’s architects describes as ‘Urban Splash compact’.

Alsop wanted to get away from the series of small rooms flats so often consist of
Beyond this checklist of desirables, Alsop wanted to get away from the standard series of small rooms that such flats tend to consist of. Where possible, the practice installed folding screens rather than walls, to give residents the freedom to open up their spaces if desired. Kitchens and bathrooms were made off-site, and conceived as pods around which the living space might flow. Ceilings are exposed concrete, to reduce the usual sense of flimsiness. Windows are generally large, and the irregular form of the exterior engenders a variety of internal arrangements, so as to escape uniformity.

At best, this approach results in flats with a sense of openness beyond their scale, seen in one type of one-bedder with a long wall that is almost all glass. At worst, some layouts seem awkward, requiring a lot of corridor to circumnavigate the pods. At very worst, a flat at the end of the western cantilever has a 2m-wide strip of timber floor, eroded by structural projections and encroached on by the kitchen, in place of a living space.

Chips is also let down by its realisation, achieved under a design-and-build contract with Urban Splash as construction manager. Wide gaps between the Trespa cladding allow glimpses of galvanised fixings behind. Exposed concrete is blotchy. The Alsop idea of free-floating pods within the flats is compromised by the detail with which they are built. Windows you want to open, don’t.

Chips recovers the strengths of some of Alsop’s more succesful projects
The current state of New Islington displays the strengths and weaknesses of high-design regeneration, in which Urban Splash specialises. By hiring an architect with personality, the developer has begun to create a distinctive place in an area which could still feel like a big heap of nothingness. It has got itself a masterplan, whose use of water will be, in all probability, delightful. But there is also, in New Islington as a whole, a gap between image and reality, between idea and realisation, between promise and achievement.

For Alsop, Chips recovers the strengths of some of the practice’s more successful projects, like the 2000 Stirling Prize-winning Peckham Library in South London. The building’s directness, boldness and playfulness are right for the situation, and it is hard to imagine many other contemporary architects dealing better with the scale. The greater the shame, then, that Chips is let down by its detail.

Urban Splash is still ahead of most of the alternatives, as a quick glance at Chips’ neighbours – a big, grey prison ship of a block, and a crystalline tower of Ratners quality – confirms. It may be that recent methods of regeneration (in which risk, and with it promotion, is pushed on to the private sector) make a bit of illusion, a bit of style-over-substance, inevitable. But it would be nice to report without any equivocation that the bright, talented people at Alsop and Urban Splash have produced something not just good, but great.

^^ couldn't they have gone out on a sunny day for the photo...show the colour up? :nuts:

I love this - I'm in Manc soon and might part from the group (uni reunion) for a few hours to take a wander, Spinningfields, N4 etc... where exactly is this, and how is public transport provision?

Is it inhabited/sold as yet?

I love this - I'm in Manc soon and might part from the group (uni reunion) for a few hours to take a wander, Spinningfields, N4 etc... where exactly is this, and how is public transport provision?

Is it inhabited/sold as yet?

vesta street, off old mill street.

there's enough maps and directions on gmpte's website (http://www.gmpte.com/content.cfm?category_id=103695) to show you what bus to get. bus is the only way, or a 10/15 minute walk from picc train station.

there's a LOT of new stuff down there you can look at.

:)

I absolutely love this building ... Alsop is a crazy fellow indeed.

However - While walking past a couple of months ago I was mortified to see that there is what can only be described as a large garden shed on the roof.
You can see it peeping over on High-Fi’s third picture - to the left.

.. Please don’t tell me this is a permanent feature !!!?!! .. if it is - someone needs taking outside to be shot.

Cheers - does anyone live there yet? Are they market rate or at a premium?

Don't seem to be as many balconies as there could be.

i don't know if anyone lives there yet. i think not, as they were still putting panelling on it a few weeks ago.

cle, if you end up going in an apartment for a tour can you get us a piccy of the waterway they created please? :) (the place behind toys'r'us)

I absolutely love this building ... Alsop is a crazy fellow indeed.

However - While walking past a couple of months ago I was mortified to see that there is what can only be described as a large garden shed on the roof.
You can see it peeping over on High-Fi’s third picture - to the left.

.. Please don’t tell me this is a permanent feature !!!?!! .. if it is - someone needs taking outside to be shot.Excellent spot, looking back at one of the older images you can see what looks like a core popping out before its shedy cladding. Certainly jolly if a bit forced.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x284/gshutty/DSC00313.jpg

http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt298/islandmonster/P02-03-09_1352.jpg

Now that is just cool!

Good to see another top London outfit exporting their exquisite taste and knowledge to provincial northern cities:wave:

isn't Alsop from Northampton? Classy!

Quite a nice view from the apartment. Or it will be evntually.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/jrb041067/hhhhhhhhh.jpg

Didn't realise there was any retail element of this scheme. Good stuff.

A chance to have a nosey around:

http://www.mancubist.co.uk/2009/07/01/antifreeze-an-art-car-boot-sale

‘Manchester’s first art car boot fair’ features work by the dozens of artists listed here. It takes place on Saturday 4 July, 12-7pm, at the CHIPS Building, Upper Kirby Street, off Old Mill Street, New Islington, Manchester, M4 6EB

^^ anyone go?

The Good, the Standard and the Ugly: Chips

Jonathan Schofield has a chat to architect Will Alsop on a day-brightening addition to Ancoats

Category: Excellent

What and when?
Chips. 2009. A 100m-long, nine-storey building developed by Urban Splash. There is a mix of 142 one, two and three bedroom flats and space for a generous restaurant or bar on the ground floor.

Who?
Will Alsop, that generously proportioned dreamer of dreams. The architect of Peckham Library. The architect who scared Liverpool after his Cloud building was accepted and then rejected on the Pierhead.

Description please
Chips stands out. It’s New Islington’s and Ancoats’ showstopper at the moment. Three long horizontals, in pale yellow, bronze and sort of purplish. Recessed balconies are picked out in bright and fun colours, pink, green, yellow. We also get words and letters, big ones, featuring the names of the artificial and natural watercourses in these parts. Personally I love a good font on a building. The best element of the dull MEN building on Hardman Street in Spinningfields is the quotes from ex-Guardian editor C.P. Scott painted on the wall of the vestibule and visible from the street. Chips is better though, because the big bold Times New Roman font is on the outside. The whole structure which follows the line of the neighbouring Ashton Canal, brings joy and a lightness of touch to what was an area of heavy industry and worker housing. When you catch sight of it from a distance it makes you smile. It’s a very public building. This is exactly what Alsop wanted.

How do you know?
I asked him. Alsop is the most approachable of UK architects with an international profile. I called his office early in the week and asked to speak to someone about the building. Twenty minutes later Alsop himself called back. He says: “I wanted the public to be very aware of Chips and enjoy it. We’re in an exciting period in architecture. I love the diversity that can be delivered. I want to embrace that freedom we have as designers and my way is to engage with people, hopefully give them something to talk about and also something they might want to live in.”

Did you ask him how he tested that public reaction?
He has a great answer. He says, “I talk to people of course but I love the Flickr test - see how many times people photograph the building and post it on the internet.” I also asked whether he cares about the comments of other architects and professional commentators who don’t often care for his ‘pop’ approach to design. Alsop says, “I’m not interested in what other architects think about what I do. Many architects don’t want to have that freedom I just mentioned. They want rules, possibly this lets them off applying their imagination.”

What’s the building like on the inside?
The public areas are airy and fun, filled with bright colours, interesting patterns and so forth. They lift the spirit. The apartments have similar character as well. Not sure all the floor plans work to maximum effect, but they are fairly generously proportioned. The apartment ceilings are interesting, left as plain concrete, which could be a challenge for some people but are intended to make the flats feel solid not flimsy. There’s a problem though.

Go on.
The finish is poor, ill-fitting skirting boards for instance or slipped exterior panels exposing inner workings. Alsop seems, as he would be, unhappy about this, “We were economically challenged there. As a result there are some little glitches in the details. I hope these can be resolved.”

And that little shed on the roof, what’s that about?
It’s part of Alsop’s playfulness. The shed covers engineering plant in an accessible area of the roof for residents. Originally Alsop wanted a wooden house in fluorescent paint popped incongruously on top of that second big horizontal. “In the end I had to settle for a garden shed,” he says. “It’s a very ordinary structure. It’s remarkable how many men spend time in a shed.” It's clever this: a moment of pleasing absurdity. Suddenly on this very modern, very large building, you are faced with something as humdrum as a shed. It’s farcical but splendid too. Then came a mini- revelation.

We like revelations...of any size. What was this about?
It was about the name. I hate the name Chips. It’s that whole depressing play on working class Northernness, as though that’s the only species of northerner around. Are there any buildings in once deprived areas of London built for boho incomers called Saveloys? I doubt it. Maybe New Islington (when finished) should be full of structures called Flat Cap or Clog. As a bookish middle class lad growing up in Rochdale, that northern milltown myth had nothing to do with me apart from my accent, the physical backdrop of moors and a love of my mum’s Lancashire cooking. The mills were all closed or closing. I swear I’ve never once said, “By eck, lass, I’d love it if you could fettle me some chips.” Worse there are only three chips here, stacked gastro-pub style. Who’s ever heard of a proper Northern chippy selling a portion of just three chips? By eck, lad, there’d be a reet to-do.

So what was the revelation?
Look through the many published articles about Chips and there'll be a comment like this from the Architects’ Journal: ‘According to Alsop, (the building) was inspired ‘by three fat chips piled on top of one another’’. The revelation is that this is wrong. The name Chips wasn’t dreamt up by Will Alsop. Like everybody on the New Islington project he did the public consultation thing, talked to the locals, and then came up with the design, his design but not the title. “The name wasn’t mine though,” says Alsop. “They (Urban Splash) called it Chips. I didn’t have it in mind. I just came up with what I thought was the best design for the site. The name was visited upon it later.” I find it comforting that Alsop didn't think of the name and then design and build something to match it. I find it comforting that Chips, the title, turns out to just be marketing.

So you still like the building?
I love it. It’s marvellous. Shame about the finish in certain areas but Chips doesn’t half brighten your day as you pass. Alsop’s pleased too. “I’m very proud of it,” he says. “I think it works very well there, but that’s not for me to judge is it?” It isn't Mr Alsop, but most people seem to heartily approve of the structure especially when compared to much of the apartment tat Manchester’s been burdened with in recent years.Well done to Urban Splash as well for having the balls to comission him, now all we need is for Chips to gain some neighbours and for the rest of the New Islington redevelopment to proceed.

http://www.propertyconfidential.com/index.asp?Sessionx=IpqiNwc6IWIqIaqiNwF6IHqi&&frombounce=yes

Promo event...
Chips at Chips!
Commercial launch event
Thursday 1 October 2009

To mark the recent completion of the ground floor commercial space at Chips, New Islington we are serving chips at Chips on Thursday 1st October.

The 11,723 sq ft of flexible ground floor commercial shell space at Chips provides a perfect opportunity to create a dream office or an amazing waterside bar/restaurant. With 142 apartments on the upper floors, the first residents have already started moving in.

Chips is the first mixed use scheme to be completed at New Islington, Manchester's Millennium Community and this will be the first chance to have a look around and see what commercial opportunities are available.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in attending please email suekinsella@urbansplash.co.uk to request an invitation.
http://www.urbansplash.co.uk/chips-commercial-event?utm_source=Urban_Splash_website&utm_medium=Flash_homepage_banner&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=Mini_banner6

Completed :)

A long way to go, but is is starting to come slowly together around here. Chips looking good in the evening light:

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x284/gshutty/Chips.jpg

Residents at £20m Urban Splash 'Chips' development in New Islington left without heat and water after 'eco' boiler fails

February 17, 2012

Neighbours at a £20m block of environmentally-friendly flats were left without heating or hot water for three nights when the building's 'green' boiler failed.

Hundreds of residents were forced to boil their own water and use their kitchen ovens for heating after the failure at the Chips building at New Islington.

The nine-floor residential block is fitted with a 'green' heating system, designed to generate electricity while capturing heat made in the process.

But engineers were called to the housing development in Ancoats on Monday night.

Heating and hot water were finally restored to the 142-bedroom building late on Wednesday night after a temporary boiler was installed.

Developers Urban Splash, who built the flats - designed to mirror a stack of chunky potato chips - say they are still investigating the cause.

But one resident said the building had been plagued by persistent heating and water problems since it first opened in 2009.

System analyst Sean Thorp, who has lived there for two years, said he bought his flat specifically because of the development's eco-credentials.

He said: "The system has broken down regularly since it was commissioned - this is the third time in 2012 alone but the longest we've been without heating and hot water for.

"We've had to adopt the blitz spirit - using pots and pans the old fashioned way and keeping the oven door open for heat.

"I work from home twice a week but am considering going into the office - which is in Chester - to keep warm.

"It's happening so often now I'm having to go and buy a mini heater."

Urban Splash said engineers had been sent to mend the building's boiler as a priority.

A spokeswoman said: "On Monday evening the communal heating system at Chips broke down.

"This was treated as an emergency by our team and our engineers attended site immediately to resolve the issue.

"Residents have been kept informed.

"We would like to apologise to our residents for the disruption that was caused and would like to assure them that this has been our highest priority - and remains to be so while an investigation is carried out."

The building was dreamed up by award-winning architect Will Alsop as the centrepiece for the New Islington development, formerly the Cardroom housing estate.

Apartments features eye-catching open plan living areas with floor-to-ceiling windows.

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1485790_residents-at-20m-urban-splash-chips-development-in-new-islington-left-without-heat-and-water-after-eco-boiler-fails

Some of the comments from residents that accompanied this article are interesting, like this one:

Adrenochrome, Eastlands (17/02/2012 at 19:10)

This is just the latest in a series of failures of the building. The non-heat resistant cooker splashbacks that cracked and needed replacing throughout. The regular false fire alarms, draughty windows (yes floor-to-ceiling hence the need for heating), the cracking walls, the damp due to insufficiently powerful bathroom fans, the high rate of failures of the SMEG brand new cookers (much higher than SMEG statistics, so were they really supplied 'new') and unfinished bridge/entrance over the canal (which has no barriers, no lighting and no lifebuoys.
Urban Splash repairs have averaged 9 months to carry out.
Regarding the heating and the statement "Residents have been kept informed" - we rang on Monday and were told 'it needs resetting', Tuesday am it was 'it needs a part', pm 'it needs a technician to perform a by-pass!'. Wednesday am 'A new boiler'. Fitted wednesday night, the new boiler broke down within 5 hours. Thursday - the heating came back on. No-one from Urban Splash/RMG ever contacted us, we were told these constantly changing excuses when we contacted them.
It was less of a slum when it was Ancoats Hospital

It is sometimes easy to forget that people actually have to live and work in the sculptures that adorn the cityscape.

CHIPS Burnt

Jill Burdett on the residents who would prefer a restaurant to a nursery

UNHAPPY rumblings from some of the fun loving residents at CHIPS with news that the front half of the ground floor could become a kiddies nursery.

Original plans had it earmarked for a bar/restaurant but now an application has gone in for an early years’ child care centre catering for a dozen babies and 60 toddlers and pre-schoolers.

You can imagine how the clubber’s hearts sank. Especially when they learned that it would also open at weekends from 8am to 5pm.

The building has its own Facebook group, started after recent troubles with the energy efficient combined heat and power plant that left them without hot water for a spell, and there is already talk of a petition.

Only from some though and there is no doubt that provision for child care would be welcomed by many in the wider area and it fits in with the ultimate aim of New Islington being a family community with the new Free School and everything.

The application is from Rob and Kelly Little who would like to open the Little Learning Ladder this summer.

In a letter to residents Kelly says: “In line with Urban Splash’s regeneration of New Islington making it a neighbourhood and community for a mixed group of residents from young professionals to families we are endeavouring to enhance the community amenities by opening a Child Day Care Nursery within Unit 1 of Chips complex – the large unit under the cantilever.

“We intend to submit a planning application in the next week to gain approval for the change of use from a late night bar and estimate that we will be fully open for business by summer 2012.”

There is a promise of 17 jobs – 15 full time and 2 part-time and a planning document in support points out that there is plenty of nearby parking on the rough and ready pay and display right outside the building for parents to use as a drop-off.

It doesn’t say how it is going to fence off the wide terrace which will become a playground, to stop the little people falling into the new canal arm.

It seems a shame that no bar/ restaurant operators have come forward prepared to invest and fit-out this unit that could and should have been a welcome watering hole for New Islington residents, canal users, walkers and anyone generally out for a mooch about.

Maybe the state of the area has been a factor. The much vaunted and really quite wonderful park is still not open to the public, the marina is shielded behind wire mesh, Ancoats Dispensary – Grade II listed – continues to disintegrate slowly behind scaffolding and the approach to Chips is along pock-marked Mill Street and a pot-holed car park. And more wire mesh screens the canal.

At the moment the whole area is a disjointed mess and while it’s amusing to watch a canal barge manoeuvre itself under the new walkway bridge it still doesn’t actually link anything together.

Much like the rest of the area it’s an expensive jigsaw that needs finishing.

http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/News/CHIPS-Burnt

The planning application


Unit 1 Ground Floor Chips Building 2 Lampwick Lane Ancoats Manchester M4 6BU

Use of part of ground floor as a day nursery, with ancillary outdoor play area

http://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=M1868WBC6K000