Glasgow | Public Realm | News & Developments

[Pgcc]

Sorry big man didnae mean to go O/T by the way.

Back on topic, I tried to bike it into the city centre a couple of days ago via Partick and the cycle track. Doin' ma bit for the environment and all that

But only got as far as Yorkhill roundabout with no way to get to the SECC as all the underpasses have been blocked with fences!!?. Trying to just get back to Partick meant going all the way back to Castlebank Street, even then it was just as bad trying to find a route onto the cycle track was a fecking nighmare so much so I gave up.

I used this route often but not for the foreseeable due to amount of work thats going to start around here.

Looking at good quality walkway in the plans should make the present disruption worthwhile in the long run though.

In the meantime it's back to the motor for me!

[M_Riaz]

A wee bit of fun guys.

I've moved everyting to the outsides leavin the middle empty, suggestions for what we could have in the future for the Skware.

[crusty_bint]

I'd leave Sir Walter Scott in the centre of the square where he should be, move the cenotaph to the west end of the square and have it facing the Chambers, Victoria and Albert can go on the east side facing the repositioned cenotaph, leave the four corner staues where they are and move the rest to Wishart street thus forming a sculpture walk to link the Necropolis and the Cathedral and )hopefully) reactivating Wishart Street. Then I would seek to demolish the Ernst and Young building on West George St and start afresh with a cafe on the ground floor and perhaps a restaurant on the roof of the new build.

Tada!

[meagain]

we have to get rid of everything and start again, we need something special for glasgow and something that's relevant to the modern city - relocate the statues around glasgow if neccessary and ...... contentionsly.... move the cenotaph away from the front door of the chambers before closing the road

[gweilo]

Oooooh that's emotive guys! I agree that the cenotaph is in the way but.... it was specifically sited there, as a mark of respect by the surviving generation, because this was the spot were all the young Glaswegian men who went off to fight and die in the Great War signed up for the trenches. Your Country Needs You and all that...

[gleegie]

[M_Riaz]

Are they Magic Mushrooms ?

[gweilo]

Was taking an American friend around Glasgow on a whistle stop tour on Monday evening. Hasn't been in Glasgow for 10 years so I was interested to hear his impression of the place after a decade of progress had elapsed. Well, its a lot slicker than it used to be was the answer. Though taken aback by the likes of Corinthian he was really disturbed as an outsider to see the number of Greek Thomson buildings that had vanished. He thought this foolish and shortsighted as it should be something the city can capitalise on: two geniuses for the price of one!

However what made me laugh was that we were wondering past the refurbished Sheriff courts and the associated public realm upgrade and the following comment was offered on GCC current fad for super slim bollards:

'hmmm... interesting bollards. Are they some kind of Scottish sex toy? You could really do yourself a injury with them!'

Doesn't bear thinking about....

[space_invader]

mushrooms bursting through concrete and tarmac?

now that's magic. . . .

[gweilo]

Yeah Glasgow as William Burroughs-esque landscape. Magic mushrooms and sex toys sprouting from the pavements!

Can't quite see GCC with their 'we know best, no you can't have a sex shop, ban any remotely saucey advert, cause we don't do sex in Glasgow' paternalistic attitude buying into that

[space_invader]

the placement of those rather thin bollards (designed by Bruno del priori, of GCC planning department) on the corner of buchanan and sauchiehall is proving to have been a daft decision.

A couple have been drunkenly twisted out of position and they upset the flow of the actual paving design and the step down between levels (although they were put there to highlight this change in level cos apparently Scots are more vunerable to tripping up than any other european ethnic group).

[gweilo]

Hmmm would that be the same author as the 'dalek' police box at the Buchanan street entrance to St Enoch square? (Which my American friend also commented on (negatively) in comparison with the original 'Tardis' version further up the street)

[space_invader]

dunno actually.

all i know is that he thought yer average glasgow bollard was too fat (but surprisingly untwistable).

[gweilo]

Well he may have thought they were too fat but the too thin version that he's produced as a result of his analysis doesn't work visually or functionally

Just wondered with the 'dalek' as its kind of similar to the bin prototype he's produced that sits in the planning department under the stairwell.

[space_invader]

street furniture's lack of consistency is what ruins buchanan street for me.
said it before, but why the fark are there so many bin types in use just now?

by the way I had many many bollard discussion with bruno del priority when i was working on the radisson. (hence my comments on this page)

[gweilo]

Yeah tell me about it. Been on and on about those stupid squiggly steel benches in front of Borders that are a total non sequitur in the street when compared to the granite benches. They're a poor substitute and it just erodes the overall effect. One or the other please. Not both.

[M_Riaz]

Quote: By Space Invader

by the way I had many many bollard discussion with bruno del priority when i was working on the radisson. (hence my comments on this page)

Hmmmm.. similarities to the front (Facade Plate) Spacey from the Previously proposed Atlas scheme for the top o Buchanan St, i believe this was propsed before the Radison was planned by GM+AD, you got anythin to do with this ?? or am i imagining things and clutching @ straws.

And BTW is that a Caricature of yourself at the bottom right of that pic with the cheesy smile ??

[space_invader]

alan d has everything to do with both!

(i was a team member on Rad hotel, one of six or seven. For the record, i worked on: the atrium space interiors, the sloping glass argyle st elevation and columns, external signage, the paving, the building warrant(!) and general 3D visualisation)

There was the project leader, there were two senior architects, two qualified architects, and me (part two drifter) - also, one other qualified architect joined the team from time to time)

Both Alan and Gordon had major input, with regular design team meetings, usually headed by Alan, sometimes by Gordon.

S'a great project. one of the few contemporary buildings in the city that matches the grandeur, pomp, and sheer ballsiness of the best in Victoriana. (but it also shows great attention to detail, again squaring up with no shame to the century-old classics that dominate Glasgow city centre)

[M_Riaz]

Thanks for that Space Invader, puts my curiosity to rest.

I was at a Wedding reception function @ the Radison not too long ago, the Open spaces and ceilings heights are absolutley fantastic..i must say i was vastly impressed by its interiors and radical designs..wonderfull work overall.

[escotregen]

Space_Invader I'd like to offer my congrats and appreciation to you as one of the team on the Radisson. It's become a must on my periodic introductory walk-abouts to Glasgow for people from elsewhere in the world. I'm not especially good at 'appreciating' modern or post-modern stuff, but this building is exceptionally good in almost every respect.

My next stint there will be at an Awards Dinner in December and I'm again looking forward to the venue.

(Unlike the ghastly Moat House hotel where I was at a seminar last Monday. The (again) underwhelming interior experience was this time matched by the uncaring attitude of the staff who left the delegates to fend for themselves in somehow obtaining taxis at the isolated, inhospitable and wind-swept frontage as evening rush-hour approached)