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Ugly railway stations

Started by Gurke and Hare, September 18, 2017, 08:28:08 PM

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Ian Drunken Smurf

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on September 18, 2017, 10:19:46 PM
To pause from slaughtering UK stations for a minute - Bratislava's is usually the first impression anyone gets of Slovakia, whether arriving from plane or train, or bus:




Last time I was accosted for money by someone who wouldn't take no for an answer so had to dive into the station bar which was like that bit where Kevin gets in the taxi and the driver turns around and shouts AINT MUCH BETTER IN HERE KID



It never ceases to amaze me why for the capital city the main train station is such a dump. At least the other one in Petržalka is just plain unmemorable.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Replies From View on September 24, 2017, 02:54:13 PM
Will people appreciate the present architectural preference for bolted-on-panels in the future?  Where anything you like can be bolted onto a metal frame as cheaply as possible, faux-classical or glass-n-steel, just bolt your preference on the front.

To me at the moment it feels like it won't go away and therefore won't be missed.

I'm not sure it's going to go away any time soon given it's cheap and reasonably well insulated (although I guess questions surrounding the flamability may be raised). But I think it's probably finding its feet still, eventually the bolt on's will become more tolerable.

It's like everything else though. When it comes out people make inspired designs, everyone copies it and it looks dull and you've got identikit buildings everywhere. Brutalist buildings can be iconic and beautiful; people miss Trinity Square off Get Carter, the local charmless NCP, not so much.

buzby

Quote from: Bronzy on September 24, 2017, 02:52:07 PM
Glasgow High Street:



It somehow manages to look both extremely uninteresting and extremely ugly.
I think it's the big fuckoff rusty girder used to hang the OHLE which really seals it. It looks like it's been there since it was electrified in 1960.
The booking office at street level is equally uninspiring:

I think it was rebuilt as part of the creation of the Argyle Line in 1979. The original station was late-Victorian Georgian revival with an attached pub (it's on the left in the middle distance on this picture):

It was at the end of the old High Street Goods yard and warehouse (the yard office is in the right foreground above) which closed in 1982 and was largely demolished in 1985. The station also had full-length platform canopies, but they probably went during the 1960 electrification works.

Part of the Argyle Line works also involved the closure and demolition of Glasgow Cross:
.
It was replaced by Argyle Street, half way between the old station and Glasgow Central.

Ferris

Quote from: Gulftastic on September 24, 2017, 05:59:52 PM
Sorry to join the detour, and it's not a railway station, but if we're talking about buildingls looking like they're made of Lego, look no further than Leeds Magistrates Court

The Economics department at the University of Sheffield is a hideous lego abomination. Once threw up on the front steps after a night out. No regrets.


greenman

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on September 26, 2017, 03:07:19 AM
The Economics department at the University of Sheffield is a hideous lego abomination. Once threw up on the front steps after a night out. No regrets.



The windowless floors on the upper right are were they practice their voodoo?

Ferris

Quote from: greenman on September 26, 2017, 03:12:05 AM
The windowless floors on the upper right are were they practice their voodoo?

If I'd spent more time in there figuring that out (doing voodoo and passing my degree), I'd probably be spending less time posting shit on here.

Economics' loss is CaB's gain.

Blumf

Quote from: greenman on September 26, 2017, 03:12:05 AM
The windowless floors on the upper right are were they practice their voodoo?

The screaming rooms.

imitationleather

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 24, 2017, 02:44:32 PM
Then again, every form of architecture had loads of critics at the time; it's not until later that they were appreciated. It's starting to happen with brutalism, but sadly a lot of them are getting knocked down, and save for a few listed examples, it's being whitewashed from history.

While I agree with you on brutalism and that it's basically cultural vandalism that it's being completely erased, I refuse to believe that future generations will think that the mass of completely hideous skyscrapers that have been put up in London in the last decade was anything other than a huge fucking mistake. For a start, I don't think a skyline of a city should be so dramatically altered in such a short space of time as it makes the place look like it's just been created suddenly rather than having evolved over hundreds of years, and especially not with buildings that just look so terrible. That Walkie Talkie, man. It's made London look like one of those gleaming, but soulless, cities you get in UAE and similar where there's as many skyscrapers as there are people.

Paul Calf

What's happening to The City is appalling. In 20 years it's been transformed from a sui generis ancient settlement built on a human scale with mediaeval practices and social structures to a crass monument to human greed, and a laundry for the filthy money of the world. People who who complain about the destruction of British culture by immigration should look north-west from the the south bank of the Thames next to Tower Bridge at the forest of ugly, haphazard congregation of leering glass giants and reflect on what's been done to London by people who were born there in collusion with people who've never been there.

Gurke and Hare

I like the skyscrapers of London, if not the politics behind them. And 20 years? The City in 1997 was some kind of workers' paradise was it?

imitationleather

It's more that in 1997 London essentially looked very similar to how it did forty years before that, whereas now it's completely different. Obviously the City has always been populated by corrupt bastards, but we're talking architecture.

It's not just the City either, what's happening to Soho is even more depressing as that used to be a very pleasant place to walk around.

Viero_Berlotti

Thought we may have already had this but it looks as if not.

Ardwick Station






imitationleather

Although not particularly bad compared to some in this thread, I always found Bethnal Green rail station extremely bleak. I think because it was always completely deserted and so felt unsafe. Also I used to use it coming back from Spurs games before Bethnal Green became gentrified and was still a quite scary shithole. It being located on a backstreet rather than the main road like the underground station just added to the desolation.

Nearly all overground stations are really horrible.

Captain Z

Quote from: buzby on September 24, 2017, 11:46:36 PM


That kiosk owner's other enterprises are named:

The Ice Cream
The Fish and Chips
The Newspaper and Can of Coke
The Cut Key

Viero_Berlotti

The Tray of Donner Meat and Can of Monster Energy Drink

Replies From View

The Egg and Cress Bap
The Tuna and Sweetcorn Baguette

greenman

Quote from: imitationleather on September 26, 2017, 11:45:01 PM
While I agree with you on brutalism and that it's basically cultural vandalism that it's being completely erased, I refuse to believe that future generations will think that the mass of completely hideous skyscrapers that have been put up in London in the last decade was anything other than a huge fucking mistake. For a start, I don't think a skyline of a city should be so dramatically altered in such a short space of time as it makes the place look like it's just been created suddenly rather than having evolved over hundreds of years, and especially not with buildings that just look so terrible. That Walkie Talkie, man. It's made London look like one of those gleaming, but soulless, cities you get in UAE and similar where there's as many skyscrapers as there are people.

Brutalism for me though was I think an especially bad era for corruption and development on the cheap meaning that effective examples of it make up a relatively lower percentage of buildings than most styles.

Replies From View

Quote from: greenman on September 27, 2017, 06:15:16 PM
Brutalism for me though was I think an especially bad era for corruption and development on the cheap meaning that effective examples of it make up a relatively lower percentage of buildings than most styles.

This car park in Bath was demolished in 2010.  It was one of the first things you'd see when you arrived at the railway or bus station.  I can't say I miss it.



I can't get enough of The Barbican Centre, though.

imitationleather

There's plenty of shit brutalism, yes. It also suffers from a bit of a loose definition because it's come to mean any mid-20th century building made of concrete, and there are many, many terrible buildings from that era. However, the good examples of it (the University of East Anglia halls of residence is a favourite of mine) are stunning, and really work well with their landscape and setting in a way which I feel that new buildings, apart from mad houses on Grand Designs or whatever, largely ignore.

Replies From View

I remember doing a face once when I read a planning proposal for an obnoxious glass building that claimed to be "reflecting" the historical buildings around it, because (do you see) glass literally reflects its surroundings.

Shit for cunts.  It was approved, as well.

buzby

Quote from: Viero_Berlotti on September 27, 2017, 12:00:04 PM
Thought we may have already had this but it looks as if not.

Ardwick Station


Don't forget the scenic view from the platform:


Not much has changed at Ardwick since it was built in the 1840s (other than the usual demolition of the original platform shelters when it was electrified in the 1950s). The abandoned white-painted building next to the street entrance (which is on a narrow cobbled alley called Blind Lane, tucked in the junction of 2 viaducts) was the original staff office. There was a small ticket office in the gap between it and the entrance path, but it seems to have been demolished in the 70s.

It was originally built by the Great Central Railway as a 'staff halt' to serve the the 2 large goods yards that stood either side of the viaduct the station is on (where the landfill and Siemens maintenance depot now stand on one side and the 1960s Great Universal  Stores building is on the other). and the mills and chemical works by the River Medlock. By the beginning of the 20th century it also served Moseley's Rubber Works (later taken over by Avon Tyres),  the original Great Universal Stores warehouse and the massive Corporation Tram Depot on Devonshire Street (now Stagecoach).

With the decline of industry in the 70s and 80s (Avon-Moseley closed in 1981, the goods yard closed in 1990, and GUS closed soon afterwards) the station was threatened with closure. It's effectively a 'parliamentary station', where it has a minimum service (2 trains per day in each direction, in weekday peak hours) rather than Network Rail having to go through getting the assent of Parliament to close it. It was threatened with closure in 2006, as only 285 passengers had used it in the previous year, but it has been steadily going up in the last 5 years with the regeneration of the area.

It's still sketchy round there  though - there was an attempted rape by the station entrance early hours of a Saturday morning last February. There;s also this memorial stone on the platform::


There's going to be a lot of changes round there is HS2 ever gets built, as it's right where the new line will be coming in from Crewe to Piccadilly.

buzby

Quote from: greenman on September 27, 2017, 06:15:16 PM
Brutalism for me though was I think an especially bad era for corruption and development on the cheap meaning that effective examples of it make up a relatively lower percentage of buildings than most styles.
Part of it is that Brutalism as a term became (mostly incorrectly) associated with council tower blocks and all their associated problems. Just because something is made of of concrete doesn't make it Brutalist*.

The cheap, system-building techniques developed by civil engineering and construction companies that were used for blocks thrown up by councils between the mid 60s and mid 70s aren't particularly Brutalist, despite usually being made of rough-cast concrete  They usually more in common with the rectilinear, uniform designs of Modernism than Brutalism, which when using reinforced concrete typically used the plastic structural nature of the material to add details and flourishes, like the asymmetry of the service tower on Trellick Tower

the curved ramps and stairwells and floating 'penthouse' on the (sadly demolished) Trinity Centre car park in Gateshead:

or the cantilevered, non-uniform elevations of Boston City Hall (the different areas of the exterior identify the different uses of the interior space - offices, the council chamber, the Mayor's office etc.):


*The first building in the UK considered to be Brutalist was the Smithsons' Hunstanton School from 1953, which was made of steel, glass and brick:

Attila

My 'home' station at Fareham got a bit ugly this morning, as two lads snuck in before they closed the barrier, robbed the shop, and then were casually going up and down the London/Southampton side platform looking for people to mug around 630 this morning.

Rather large customer service agent helpfully directed them back to the station side of the platform where friendly police officers were waiting to give them a lift to their next destination.

I was just about at the grim staircase/bridge combo to walk over to the London side when they tried to box me in, one walking in front of me very slowly, and then matey sidling up next to me. Magical way to start the day, but not unusual; I'm at the station roughly eight times a week (if you count coming and going) and there are police there at least 1-2 times collecting local teenagers who are hassling people trying to access the station or trying to break into people's cars.

Replies From View

buzby - does that mean the Barbican Centre isn't brutalist, then?

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: buzby on September 28, 2017, 12:50:14 AM
Part of it is that Brutalism as a term became (mostly incorrectly) associated with council tower blocks and all their associated problems. Just because something is made of of concrete doesn't make it Brutalist*.

The cheap, system-building techniques developed by civil engineering and construction companies that were used for blocks thrown up by councils between the mid 60s and mid 70s aren't particularly Brutalist, despite usually being made of rough-cast concrete  They usually more in common with the rectilinear, uniform designs of Modernism than Brutalism, which when using reinforced concrete typically used the plastic structural nature of the material to add details and flourishes, like the asymmetry of the service tower on Trellick Tower

the curved ramps and stairwells and floating 'penthouse' on the (sadly demolished) Trinity Centre car park in Gateshead:

or the cantilevered, non-uniform elevations of Boston City Hall (the different areas of the exterior identify the different uses of the interior space - offices, the council chamber, the Mayor's office etc.):


*The first building in the UK considered to be Brutalist was the Smithsons' Hunstanton School from 1953, which was made of steel, glass and brick:




The Burroughs Wellcome Pharmaceutical building is lovely. As featured in the thriller Brainstorm featuring Christopher Walken and Louise Fletcher.

Dex Sawash

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 28, 2017, 07:07:02 PM


Fucking trees are massive there now and they built some normal buildings around it. Ruined.


Dex Sawash

I think it was a set in Logan's Run too

Quote from: Replies From View on September 28, 2017, 05:45:34 PM
buzby - does that mean the Barbican Centre isn't brutalist, then?

You might find some of the articles on Dezeen interesting, Replies. I don't think buzby wrote anything calling into question whether the Barbican Centre is brutalist (could be wrong). It's usually seen as a landmark of the style. See the first article focussing more on the design of the surrounding estate.

Brutalist buildings: Barbican Estate by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon

The Dezeen guide to Brutalist architecture

Dezeen Brutalism season homepage

Dezeen Brutalism homepage

buzby

Quote from: Smeraldina Rima on September 28, 2017, 08:54:28 PM
You might find some of the articles on Dezeen interesting, Replies. I don't think buzby wrote anything calling into question whether the Barbican Centre is brutalist (could be wrong). It's usually seen as a landmark of the style. See the first article focussing more on the design of the surrounding estate.

Brutalist buildings: Barbican Estate by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon

The Dezeen guide to Brutalist architecture

Dezeen Brutalism season homepage

Dezeen Brutalism homepage

What he said. The slab and point blocks of the Estate are a little rectilinear and box-like (which is sort of unavoidable when implementing a high-density housing scheme). but they have enough detailing to break up their outlines and elevations (for instance, the slab blocks have castellated roofs and together with the towers it provides a visual link back  the medieval city walls and barbican that once stood on the site). The Centre buildings and plaza are full of detail too. Compare it to a large panel system-buiilt tower block development using the Laing, Jespersen, Bison or Unit-Camus systems where every unit  is identical and rectangular, engineered with the sole intention of reducing cost and assembly time by minimising the number of individual components and the materials required to make them. The visual element of the design ended up right at the bottom of the list.

Anyway, we are straying off the topic of ugly stations (I'm sure we had a Brutalism thread in the recent past?) Consider the vision of cheap cladding and corrugated roof sheeting that is Warrington Bank Quay:

(also featuring the scenic vista of the Lever Fabergé toiletries factory hulking behind it)
It's not much better from the platforms either:

It has two island platforms - the one on the left in the picture still has the original 1860s buildings lurking under the hideous canopy cladding. The one on the right was demolished and rebuilt in the 195os along with the original street-level entrance and ticket office.