Cafe eh, ded culchured man, n'at

[aland]

Volcanic rock, golden roofs, heather...can you see what it is yet?

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/lo/features/7018428.html

some interesting work here lads....remember to add your comments

[Be_Happy]

I like the Blocknord proposal the most, but I can't say i'm that excited by any of the designs. Can't really get a good look with those small pics.

[Glasgow 2097]

At first glance the JM Architects and Blocknord proposals look the most interesting, but there's no way you can draw definitive conclusions from those pictures. I'll have to get myself along to the exhibition.

[M_Riaz]

Originally Posted by aland

Volcanic rock, golden roofs, heather...can you see what it is yet?

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/lo/features/7018428.html

some interesting work here lads....remember to add your comments

Emm whaurs yer entry oan this wan 'nat Mr D

STUDIO KAP


This cafe would be a dynamic new feature on a new-look George Square. The Square's tarmac finish would be removed and traffic-calming measures would add to accessibility. This elevated venue would look out across a stream of water which would map out the River Clyde

JM ARCHITECTS


This design brings a touch of the Big Apple to the Dear Green Place. It was inspired by Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, the famous artwork depicting a New York cafe. Volcanic black basalt cladding would complement the spectacular City Chambers building

RMJM


Famous faces would be flocking to this city centre gathering point. This simple, calm and tranquil cafe would bring colour and life to the square. Images of well-known figures from Glasgow and Scotland's history would decorate the sides of the elegant structure

REIACH AND HALL


This vision of Glasgow's new showpiece cafe comes complete with golden glass. The opulent-looking crystal-clear pavilion reacts instantly to changing light and this beautiful and innovative space would be a venue for all seasons.

BLOCKNORD


This cafe would be Scottish to its roots. The glass building would be complemented by a carpet of heather planted on the roof which would change colour throughout the year. The building will also feature granite pillars and have water cascading down its windows.

RICHARD MURPHY ARCHITECTS


Windswept George Square would gain an elegant enclosure from the elements in this bold submission. It is also hoped a light sculpture will attract customers like moths to a flame. The Square's statues would also be rearranged to give the city's focal point a fresh look

[aland]

we did'ny entur...................

[The Boy David]

Am ur pure leanin' towards JM Architects design.

But yer pure right man, the pics of all the designs are dead shite, y'ken?


Richard Murphay Architects design is the most interesting, but I think its one of those buildings that either look fantastic or look absolute poo.


Will be interesting to see what the general public think - I certainly havent made up my mind just yet.


Where is that exhibition of all the designs going to be again? The Lighthouse I pressume?

[Glasgow 2097]

Yep. It's on until Sunday.

[gweilo]

Hmmm I will reserve judgement 'til I've pop down to the Lighthouse tomorrow. Blocknord sounds the most poetic on paper but I'm not sure about water cascading over glass. Sounds like a nice idea in theory but in practice could get scummy and covered in algae in no time at all and would be just the kind of thing that would be turned off to save money. Just not sure if this proposal is right for such an urban square but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Studo KAP are going for the sentimental approach with their River Clyde feature but I'm not averse that so why not. Glad to see they have not kept to the brief and good on them for not doing so.

The Murphy man is doing a Scarpa again but well.... I actually quite like this and I'm intrigued to see how he's reshuffled the rest of the chess peices.

As for the rest Reiach and Hall bit what is that? I'm sure its meant to be minimally hyper poetic but its flying right over me hed at the mo

Ohhh just realised BlockNords is sited obliquely. Interesting.... now if people could actually walk on that carpet of heather....

[get13]

Why in the studio kap pic does the queen street station arch extend right to the street front?

I like the blacknords one and the studio kap one the best.

[gweilo]

Cause they want to remove the bloody awful extension to the Copthorne that presently obscures the station vault. Quite right to. More power to their elbow.

[ad at home]

how can you tell all that from a single small image in the ET, gweilo.

Don't be too quick to diss reiach and hall, it might be strange looking but it is my experience that these things have a habit of being put aside on first view then growing on you as time passes.

Of course the reverse is true, the most seductive image first glance for me was RMJM but it soon tires...hope there's more too it?

Can't tell if Richard Murphy is being ironic, there's a fucking horse and everything included, maybe it's called Carlo's Cafe...looks a bit like Page and Park detailing like the Library extension in Greenock or bits of the Lighthouse.

There's a new Square in Budapest gweilo that has a water feature which is a plate of water on a glass roof over an new gallery underneath.

It looks great, so I think the water feature could work. All in all I'd give it to Nord, give them the break they need and I think deserve

[M_Riaz]

Originally Posted by aland

we did'ny entur...................

why not alan i would have thought company like yours would be at the foreront on a project like this, speshly ye bein a Glesga man as well, ..would it not be good centre showpiece and good advert for yourselves??

[ad at home]

we were up to our neck at the time, in the middle of glasgow harbour and the school and looking for staff, so we let it go.

Maybe a wrong move, time will tell. Anyway its a brilliant project for a new young and talented practice to make it's name, that's why I think Nord should get it. It also looks like theirs is the most interesting and appropriate proposal. Will go to the Lighthouse tomorrow and have areal look

[gleegie]

Why in the studio kap pic does the queen street station arch extend right to the street front?

Interesting! Hopefully more than wishful thinking.

--------------------

Richard Murphy's looks a bit cheap and wall like, Reiach and hall a touch too oriental for my tastes, RMJM's looks like a bus shelter, KAP and JM's look VERY similar, JM supercedes it though.

Hmmmm, Blocknord or JM then...

I'll plump for Blocknord.

[The Boy David]

Originally Posted by gleegieboy

Reiach and hall a touch too oriental for my tastes

Looks a touch too rubbish for my tastes, if you ask me.

I know its only one angle, but it's roof instantly offended me.

Given the context and its competition, I cant see anyway that it could become acceptable for George Square.

[Be_Happy]

My only problem with the Blacknord design is that it appears to be sitting at a pretty awkward angle. How are they going to hold all the usual events in the square when there's a big glass block dumped diagonally across it. This could also ruin the views of the City Chambers form the opposite end of the square.

And another thing - we better not end up with a fecking Starbucks!

[crusty_bint]

Alan, you're a pie for no enterin! No offence mate

Kap's looks kinda cool, I'd say thats probably my favourite. The Clyde thingy is a smidge fluffy, kinda reminds me of that Diana fountain in London, but interesting perhaps. Resurfacing of the Square and the removal of the Millenium Hotels 70's abbhoration would get a big welcome from the majority of the city too ...one thing tho: wheres a' the sta'tyooz?

JMs would sit nicely in front of the hotel and not throw the place too off balance... I dunno tho, the impossible roof is a bit transparent, overdone even. Looks nice enough tho.

RMJM's is a bit cheesy, nowt more to say on that score.

Reiach & Hall have an interesting idea with the photosensative glass, could be fun, hope its sensitive enough to react to different shades of grey light tho! Dont like the shape of the roof tho, I could have came up with that :S

Blacknords is looking nice too, got shades of Glenmorangie wi the running water and the heather ...and weather. The entrance signs to the Marriot at the Gyle/Maybury in Embruhh has somethin similar going on with the cascading water, only its in steel rather than glass. Like it!

Richard Murphy... take it you've got a bug-fucker then by the looks of this penis-extension? Too harsh? I agree, I take it back! I really rally like this wan!

I think I'll reserve judgment till I visit the Lighthouse tho, wouldnt want to put my foot in it or anythin

[Jsweeneypm]

Well it’s pretty difficult to get a full and thorough perspective of the developments, so I think I’ll be yet another to reserve final judgement for now. Luckily enough, a meeting I was supposed to go to through in auld Reekie tomorrow was cancelled at the last minute there so I will hopefully get a chance to pop down to the Lighthouse tomorrow and see what’s what. I must say however that the impression formed from what I have read and from what I can see thus far of the proposals, the Studio KAP & JM Architects proposals come across as the most captivating and inspired.

They seem to have broken from the confines of the original, pretty uninspired design brief and instead have came up with something that will comprehensively transform George Square and reassert it as one of Europe’s finest pieces of Public Realm in my view. They both appear to be the most benign, simple and unassuming of the structures proposed, that will not impinge upon the balanced feel of the Square, but the apparently monolithic and impermeable northern elevation of JM’s scheme could cause issues regarding the visibility of the North British Hotel. KAP’s vision of the possible removal of that hideous hotel extension, thus revealing the train shed of Queen Street Station is also extremely compelling. The miniature ‘River Clyde’ water feature proposal also from KAP is really original and inventive in my view, again another very tactful, almost subliminal effort to implant the Clyde back into our consciousness as a city without being too kitsch. It will also of course have the effect of breaking up that windswept void that is now the western half of the Square. The traffic calming measures also really strike a chord with me. Initially I was also leaning towards the BlockNord Architects scheme, but I think that point brought up about the issue of high intensity maintenance vis a vis the glazed water cascade could prove to just be too much of a high risk option, though probably that’s just my mindset given the projects and finicky clients I have an unfortunate rapport with in my profession. The apparent lack of a wider attempt to improve the public realm in general will also probably rule it out in my book, I just can’t turn down the prospect of restoring at least some of the beauty and sense of place back into George Square as a whole.



Jsweeneypm.

[aland]

well, as my mother used to say ...keep your mouth closed til you know what you're talking about.

On visiting the Lighthouse , only two proposals in it for me lads:

Studio Kap and JM Architects. Of the two Studio Kap is the most refined, their only problem seems to me, is if the city considers that the redevelopment of the square is an imperative in their proposals.

Can't see that happening at all, already there are views in opposition and Steve Purcell quoted in the Scotsman and Herald today saying that none of the designs on show could be chosen.

JM Architects roof looks very interesting but it's not clear how it would be supported. Columns would spoil the whole idea of a folded plane.

BlockNord's large model lets it down, though I think it would be beautifully detailed and the waterwall and heather roof are I think interesting ideas. Materials seem appropriate too, but too blocky.

[Glasgow 2097]

For anyone yet to visit the Lighthouse exhibition, there are people in George Square today giving away leaflets for free entry.