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Derby Assembly Rooms up for demolition

Started by Shoulders?-Stomach!, May 02, 2021, 10:11:25 AM

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Shoulders?-Stomach!

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/may/02/last-ditch-bid-to-save-derbys-postwar-modernist-gem-from-bulldozers

I am a highly selective fan of modernist/brutalist architecture, normally a critic, but I have been to a few events here and think it is quite effective both in form and function.

It seems they haven't really known what to do with it as both repair, refurb, or replacement has been more expensive than just kicking the can down the road.

idunnosomename

The best bit is what they want to replace it with

NOTHING AT ALL






Yes you too can stand on your tod in an oddly sparse crowd watching the Qatar World Cup on a big screen among some neon painted shipping containers. Brave new world

The Mollusk

Hope they "accidentally" leave the demolition gear ticking over when they go for lunch and a fly lands on the control lever and sets it off on a rampage that results in the entirety of Derby being razed to the ground in the process.

Fambo Number Mive

I hate those giant TV screens. There was one in Walthamstow when I was living there. Such a waste of electricity (hardly anyone was watching it) and it felt like noise pollution. I don't think anyone would stand and watch for more than a few seconds. Getting rid of that giant television would have helped reduce energy consumption and made Walthamstow centre a nicer place to walk through, it felt like being part of some dystopia every time I walked past the giant television. And now they are putting one in Derby.

idunnosomename

I think the big screen is already there, it was put up for the 2012 Olympics i think.

Derby is a piss-stained shithole. But the sad thing is it like a lot of British towns really doesnt need to be

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: The Mollusk on May 02, 2021, 10:37:06 AM
Hope they "accidentally" leave the demolition gear ticking over when they go for lunch and a fly lands on the control lever and sets it off on a rampage that results in the entirety of Derby being razed to the ground in the process.
.

Largely agree, but inconveniently there are a smattering of worthy buildings they accidentally left standing in their race to crush Derby of any lingering remnants of distinct identity or self-worth.

buttgammon

Working in a brutalist building has made me see the pitfalls of that style - especially the lack of natural light, but the fashion for just tearing down anything that's concrete is silly. There is a naive school of thought that all of these building looks depressing and removing them instantly excises the bleakness from a place when that's simply not the case.

Can't wait to watch the Qatar World Cup in my shorts in Derby in the middle of December.


Paul Calf

Quote from: buttgammon on May 02, 2021, 10:50:17 AM
Working in a brutalist building has made me see the pitfalls of that style - especially the lack of natural light, but the fashion for just tearing down anything that's concrete is silly. There is a naive school of thought that all of these building looks depressing and removing them instantly excises the bleakness from a place when that's simply not the case.

Brutalist buildings are horrible, elitist monuments to failed ambition. Everyone who subscribes to the weirdly trendy cult of Banham should be forced to live in the Aylesbury Estate.

dissolute ocelot

Quote from: buttgammon on May 02, 2021, 10:50:17 AM
Working in a brutalist building has made me see the pitfalls of that style - especially the lack of natural light, but the fashion for just tearing down anything that's concrete is silly. There is a naive school of thought that all of these building looks depressing and removing them instantly excises the bleakness from a place when that's simply not the case.
Although working in an all glass building can be just as unpleasant with overheating, lack of ventilation and glare. It does seem as if architects and town planners don't give a shit about anything except money and sometimes aesthetics, but often not even that. There are some good schemes to replace brutalist housing, eg Leith Fort in Edinburgh, but too often they don't really try.

Icehaven

There was one of those giant screens in Birmingham centre for ages, I'd completely forgotten about it. It was there for a few years, then it broke, then it was taken away. I can't even remember what was usually on it, BBC news probably.


idunnosomename

those big screens were largely an olympic fad i think. realised the one I hated in exchange square, manchester has finally gone. there's something particularly deso about people just sat their eating their lunch gawping at News 24

Neomod

I do love a bit of brutalism so I say keep it but guess they don't have the budget to repair if all they can afford to replace it are some containers (£2 grand each) and some Christmas market sheds.

Growing up we had these beauties in my sleepy seaside town.







I think the swimming pool may now be gone but the others remain.

Dex Sawash


Suitable for indoor karting but the open space could support karting too.


buttgammon

Quote from: dissolute ocelot on May 02, 2021, 11:41:16 AM
Although working in an all glass building can be just as unpleasant with overheating, lack of ventilation and glare. It does seem as if architects and town planners don't give a shit about anything except money and sometimes aesthetics, but often not even that. There are some good schemes to replace brutalist housing, eg Leith Fort in Edinburgh, but too often they don't really try.

And not even aesthetics, just external aesthetics (bare concrete doesn't look half as nice in a corridor). The building in question had a lengthy and expensive refurbishment, which led to some new lights being fitted and the installation of some new light fittings.

Echo Valley 2-6809

I've only just got over The Pink Coconut going. It had all lasers and that.

This short Victoria Wood documentary follows her driving to the Assembly Rooms, and films her before, during and after the gig  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmPhUYiJmos

bgmnts

Growing up in a new town, built on pure brutalised concrete, I know all too well how insanely dispiriting is.

But then people probably thought the same about gorgeous stone buildings.

Thomas

I trudged through the shadow of the Assembly Rooms every hollow morning and every desolate evening for about six years. Its stark brown facade emitted a depression ray that extended all the way to the nearest of the four Greggses.

Jim_MacLaine

Quote from: buttgammon on May 02, 2021, 12:45:04 PM
And not even aesthetics, just external aesthetics (bare concrete doesn't look half as nice in a corridor). The building in question had a lengthy and expensive refurbishment, which led to some new lights being fitted and the installation of some new light fittings.

The Barbican Centre does interior concrete well.

I worked here in the 90's and much prefer it to their new offices.



which are a paen to mediocrity in glass and steel.


buttgammon

I've never actually been in the Barbican, despite loving it from the outside. I think one of the problems we've hit on in this thread is that people don't know what to do with a lot of brutalism, and whether they're replacing or simply refurbishing it, there's a lack of imagination. There are some things I really like about the building I work (worked?) in, and the rooms that do have windows are gorgeous, but too much of it is dreary and badly ventilated. I love the outside, which is almost like a concrete hanging garden, but the space inside is poorly utilised, too many rooms have no natural light, and the floorplan is weird.

One really interesting brutalist building that's recently been demolished is the police station in Wrexham, which had these remarkable slit-like windows that were meant to be an updated version of the features you would see on medieval castles in North Wales. I've no idea what it was like inside, but I was fascinated with it when I lived in the area.

Sebastian Cobb

Looks shit.

I only just discovered they've shut Aberdeen Market and are looking to knock it down and replace it with a glass box that has clothes shops and coffee shops in it. There's loads of small shopping centres in Aberdeen that do all that already while the main high street keeps dying. I don't get it.




king_tubby

Ah man, a formative venue from my youth. First gig (Ned's Atomic Dustbin) and two Golden Demon Warhammer conventions.

NEEEEEEEEERD!!!!

Sebastian Cobb

I like Ned's but they played up here and time has taken its toll much more on them than PWEI, dispite PWEI having shitloads of crew changes.

Thomas

I wouldn't spiritually recoil from so many of these hulking buildings if only they were pressure-washed from time to time.

Don't mistake me, I do appreciate the Ballardian urban sensibilities of these monolithic concrete brutes - just as I appreciate dilapidated aircraft hangars, charred skeletal piers, and the ominous hushed gaps in terraced housing where a serial killer's home has been demolished - but I wouldn't fancy one in my bedroom window.


I went to Lancaster University for a time and the place made me feel utterly suicidal.


Norton Canes

There are nicer bits. Or was it particularly the County Oak which made you feel like that?

The oak and the concrete make it feel like a horror film.