A Livelier Liverpool
In “The Politics of the Envelope,” Alejandro Zaera
Polo listed several northern British cities as case studies for the integration
of private investment and urban revitalization projects. During Tuesday’s
class, we saw the example of the Birmingham railway station, which reminded me
of Liverpool’s transformation as well.
My husband grew up across the River Mersey from Liverpool. When I first visited the city in 1999, Liverpool had iconic buildings—the “Three Graces” and the Albert Dock on the waterfront, St. George’s Hall and the Empire Theatre, Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and the world famous Cavern Club. Nevertheless, the city was tired. The high street offered department stores and specialty shops, but Liverpool offered little desirable shopping, dining, or night life.
In the same year that I first visited Liverpool,
the city launched a competition for the renovation of the area around its
Paradise Street shopping district. In 2008, Liverpool One transformed the
city.
Supported through a public-private partnership, Liverpool One was not a single structure, but a masterplan for a 42-acre open air shopping and entertainment precinct that encompassed several city streets. Led by the firm BDP, various buildings and structures within the project were designed by approximately 20 different architectural firms.
My husband grew up across the River Mersey from Liverpool. When I first visited the city in 1999, Liverpool had iconic buildings—the “Three Graces” and the Albert Dock on the waterfront, St. George’s Hall and the Empire Theatre, Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and the world famous Cavern Club. Nevertheless, the city was tired. The high street offered department stores and specialty shops, but Liverpool offered little desirable shopping, dining, or night life.
Supported through a public-private partnership, Liverpool One was not a single structure, but a masterplan for a 42-acre open air shopping and entertainment precinct that encompassed several city streets. Led by the firm BDP, various buildings and structures within the project were designed by approximately 20 different architectural firms.
Zaera Polo wrote, “The resulting struggle between
old urban structures and the junkspace invaders is certainly being played out
on the domain of the envelope and performed as a negotiation between
developers, who want to swallow as much space as possible with their complexes,
and urban planners, who want to keep as much permeability as possible
throughout these complexes and extend the city fabric through them, producing
active frontages and intensifying permeability. The final form becomes a hybrid
between the existing urban fabric and the diagram of a suburban retail
massing.”
Liverpool One supports Zaera Polo's claims. According to one source, city planners called the project “the largest city center development in Europe since post-war reconstruction." This supports Zaera Polo's claim of developers taking over large swaths of cities. The project also supports his observations of urban planning practices. In a book produced by BDP, project director and Liverpool native Terry Davenport described intentional efforts to “work with the grain of the city” and “use the street pattern, rather than fight it.” Additionally, by engaging so many firms and designers in the execution of this project, BDP and City of Liverpool may have dodged the homogeneity of junkspace. Walking through Liverpool One, the lack of a roof and the variety of new buildings interspersed with structures that predate the project keep it from feeling like a mall. However, it definitely feels like a planned space.
While reading more about the project, I found an article about the continuing prosperity of Liverpool One just as other British retail centers struggle to compete with online shopping. Before this class, I appreciated Liverpool One as a convenient destination to do my holiday shopping. This week’s readings, however, give me a new interest in the place. I will look at it with fresh eyes when I return, and I look forward to seeing how it continues to develop and shape the city in the years to come.
Liverpool One supports Zaera Polo's claims. According to one source, city planners called the project “the largest city center development in Europe since post-war reconstruction." This supports Zaera Polo's claim of developers taking over large swaths of cities. The project also supports his observations of urban planning practices. In a book produced by BDP, project director and Liverpool native Terry Davenport described intentional efforts to “work with the grain of the city” and “use the street pattern, rather than fight it.” Additionally, by engaging so many firms and designers in the execution of this project, BDP and City of Liverpool may have dodged the homogeneity of junkspace. Walking through Liverpool One, the lack of a roof and the variety of new buildings interspersed with structures that predate the project keep it from feeling like a mall. However, it definitely feels like a planned space.
While reading more about the project, I found an article about the continuing prosperity of Liverpool One just as other British retail centers struggle to compete with online shopping. Before this class, I appreciated Liverpool One as a convenient destination to do my holiday shopping. This week’s readings, however, give me a new interest in the place. I will look at it with fresh eyes when I return, and I look forward to seeing how it continues to develop and shape the city in the years to come.
Thank you for sharing a great project that advocates for cooperation between the private and public sectors to bring about urban renewal. I’m intrigued by Davenport’s simple notion of ‘working with the grain of the city, rather than fighting it.’ I think you’re right in saying that diversifying a design team may be a means to break down the uniformity of Junkspace to create a thriving urban space. Liverpool One makes for a fascinating case study because it seems as if by leveraging Junkspace and applying contemporary urban design rigor, the designers produced a complete, beautiful architecture that energizes the city socially and economically.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Josh's statements that the diversity in planners and architects led to the overall success. I think there is something behind the experience of a place. People don't want to see the same building and type of place over and over again. If there is an experience to going out to buy a christmas gift instead of ordering online, I think people will do it. When you can see the same exact availability online as if you walked into a large box store, why go?
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