Squares and public spaces
28 Feb 2020 - Elliott Brown
Inspiration
Centenary Square lit up after dark with the Water Jet fountains
Heading back into town from The BCAG, got these views of Centenary Square around 7pm on Wednesday 26th February 2020. Been wanting to see the Water Jet fountains lit up after it got dark. Was very quiet in Centenary Square. Crossing over Library Tram Stop, as roadworks on Broad Street mean you can't walk down past Symphony Hall. Westside seemed quiet for this time of the evening.
Centenary Square lit up after dark with the Water Jet fountains
Heading back into town from The BCAG, got these views of Centenary Square around 7pm on Wednesday 26th February 2020. Been wanting to see the Water Jet fountains lit up after it got dark. Was very quiet in Centenary Square. Crossing over Library Tram Stop, as roadworks on Broad Street mean you can't walk down past Symphony Hall. Westside seemed quiet for this time of the evening.
Heading out of Brindleyplace, and back onto Broad Street. I headed to Centenary Square sometime after 7pm, after leaving a Birmingham We Are arts event at The Birmingham Contemporary Art Gallery. Hoardings on Broad Street, means you have to cross over to the side near Regency Wharf and the Hyatt Regency Birmingham Hotel.
Crossing over Library Tram Stop.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
The water jets in the Reflective Pool were lit up red at this point while the Library of Birmingham was blue.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
The blue lights were making nice reflections here.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
The water jets going up giving off an unique blue tint.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Between the Library of Birmingham and HSBC UK. Looks quite complete from here.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (5).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
View to HSBC UK at 1 Centenary Square with the Municipal Bank and 3 Arena Central.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (6).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Tram 23 was heading into Library Tram Stop. Passing the Municipal Bank, future home of a University of Birmingham venue.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (7).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Tram 23 comes to a stop at Library Tram Stop. Making a nice reflection from this side.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (8).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
View towards the Symphony Hall foyer and the Hyatt Regency Birmingham.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (9).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Further down as you have the tram on the left and the Library to the right.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (10).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Might as well get Baskerville House and the Hall of Memory again while I passed through.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (11).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Tram 23 passed the Alpha Tower and HSBC UK as I headed towards Centenary Way, Chamberlain Square and Victoria Square.
dndimg alt="Centenary Square after dark" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square after dark (Feb 2020) (12).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Opening of Centenary Square in Birmingham - One of the week's highlights!
Earlier this week, the new and totally re-developed Centenary Square was opened in a wonderful ceremony on a beautiful summer's day, quite fitting given the stunning design unveiled and great example of modern architecture with community at its heart. Great work all involved, in particular Graeme Massie Architects.
Opening of Centenary Square in Birmingham - One of the week's highlights!
Earlier this week, the new and totally re-developed Centenary Square was opened in a wonderful ceremony on a beautiful summer's day, quite fitting given the stunning design unveiled and great example of modern architecture with community at its heart. Great work all involved, in particular Graeme Massie Architects.
Take our post for some stunning photography.
We would like to thank all the photographers involved - Karl Newton, Daniel Sturley, Kate Fulcher and Positively Birmingham. Thank you all for allowing us to share your great work.
Construction & regeneration
03 Jun 2019 - Tom Grunt
News & Updates
“Unity, coherence and uniqueness” - that's Birmingham's new Centenary Square!
Work is nearing completion at Birmingham’s Centenary Square. Take this post by Tom Grunt for a latest update, with a gallery of artists impressions from Graeme Massie.
“Unity, coherence and uniqueness” - that's Birmingham's new Centenary Square!
Work is nearing completion at Birmingham’s Centenary Square. Take this post by Tom Grunt for a latest update, with a gallery of artists impressions from Graeme Massie.
Introduction and Background
In 2014, Birmingham City Council announced, with the help of RIBA, an international competition to find a new design for the tired and, soke would say, unattractive Centenary Square.
An overwhelming 200 entries from across the world were received, of which 5 were shortlisted. The five designs were presented to the public, and to the jury panel.
Graeme Massie Architects were announced to have won in June 2015.
History
The area has been a major public space since the 1920s, but was hit hard, like many parts of Birmingham by the maniacal destruction (read redevelopment) of the post war years.
The creation of the inner ring road in the sixties cut the square off from the rest of the city centre. This was partially corrected in 1989 when the square was given a new lease of life, with a footbridge linking Paradise Forum being built.
The square has been the subject of several different proposals since 1918. The first of which was refused by the government as being ‘too ambitious for a provincial town’, as it included a formal garden, new cathedral, municipal offices and exhibition halls among others.
This wasn’t the last time the government stepped in when we were apparently ‘too ambitious’.
A more modest proposal was later adopted, and even that had only a fraction of it already built including Baskerville House and Hall of Memory, both listed buildings standing there to this day.
The square was given the name Centenary in 1989 to commemorate 100 years since Birmingham was granted city status.
Brand new paving was created by Tess Jaray made to look like a brick carpet and a new fountain called ‘The Spirit Of Enterprise’ was created by Tom Lomax, both of which have now been removed.
Ironically, it wasn’t until the completion of the new Library of Birmingham in 2013 when the ‘brick carpet’ by Tess Jaray could be properly appreciated from the Library’s terrace.
2019 - The New Design
Hall of Columns
The design of the square is unlike any other. The most distinctive and radical feature is the ‘Hall of Columns’, which is a grid of 43 slender columns, each 25 metres tall and poke above the Library terrace level.
Thanks to the columns the square has a three-dimensional feel, to sit within a defined area with a light granite surface and have point lights at the very tip, creating a fantastic ‘constellation of lights’ at night.
They extend to the other side of Broad Street, with one row being located on the pavement right outside HSBC and Municipal Bank, while another row is right in the middle of soon-to-be Broad Street tram corridor.
“Unity, coherence and uniqueness”
This gives the whole area a sense of unity, coherence and uniqueness, a sense of it being one great civic space for everyone to enjoy, and one that sets Birmingham apart from every other city in Britain.
Water Features and Greenery
Next to the Symphony Hall and opposite The Rep theatre, there is a large reflection pool, with three rows of water jets for children, animals and adults alike to play with in the summer.
The pool can be drained when large scale events take place on the square. With a number of places to sit, formally or informally, and benches acting as a security barrier, the area will become a destination in itself.
What I really love about the new square is the trees. There are lot of them!
They are arranged in groves, and these form a series of pocket parks across the square, with benches placed in or around them. Each grove is formed of a single species, bringing a unique atmosphere and colour to its part of the square.
These species include Birch, Maple, Gingko and Flowering Cherry, Plane.
The birches form a screen along the western side of the square, acting as a visual and acoustic barrier to Paradise Circus Queensway. 21 of these extend all the way towards Baskerville House.
Below, tall grasses and herbaceous perennials will be planted, creating a sort of an urban meadow, which will be illuminated at night.
A grove of fourteen Maple trees are being planted adjacent to Broad Street and the Hall of Memory. These will turn bright red in Autumn, fantastically contrasting with the twelve yellow coloured leaves of Ginkgo trees located outside The Rep Theatre, together giving the square a beautifully autumnal feel.
Perennial plants such as ferns and seasonal flowering plants will be planted beneath the maples as well as the Ginkgo trees. The Ginkgo grove will have a long continuous bench all around it and clearings inside with informal benches.
Outside of Symphony Hall will be a cherry orchard, a group of twelve mature Yoshino trees arranged within a formal grid, with a beautiful white blossom in early Spring, and green to yellow in Autumn, brilliantly contrasting with the red Maples and yellow Gingko trees.
The canopies of these Cherries will be lit during the night and three granite benches are placed beneath them.
Public Art
All the public artwork taken away and put into storage before the revamp of the square began, are set to return to the square, although some will be located elsewhere.
The ‘Golden Boys’ statue of Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch, will be placed against the backdrop of the Cherry Orchard, near Symphony Hall.
The statue of King Edward VII will remain in its place, while the ‘Industry and Genius’ sculpture is going to be moved closer to the Baskerville House and made symmetrical to its entrance.
A ‘Real Birmingham Family’ statue will be relocated next to the Ginkgo trees grove.
CONCLUSION
The number of alterations to the square, and its vicinity over the years have fragmented the square, making it tired, unattractive and illegible.
This development is a vital cog in the ongoing regeneration and resurrection of Birmingham as a major international centre of culture, which fits with the Big City Plan.
The square will become the centrepiece of the Westside district of the city centre and become a public space of international significance, capable of hosting large events.
But not only that, people will come to the square and be attracted with the cultural offerings within the area. It’ll become a place to meet, socialise and stay, rather than merely pass through.
Tomas Grunt
All the following artist impressions are courtesy of Graeme Massie Architects
Here we will look at some sculptures that used to be in Centenary Square, and also a strucuture that was removed before it opened in 1991! The Colonnade was moved to the Peace Garden in 1990. The Flame of Hope and the Spirit of Enterprise fountain were removed in 2009 before the Library of Birmingham was built. The Forward sculpture burnt in an arson attack during 2003.
Here we will look at some sculptures that used to be in Centenary Square, and also a strucuture that was removed before it opened in 1991! The Colonnade was moved to the Peace Garden in 1990. The Flame of Hope and the Spirit of Enterprise fountain were removed in 2009 before the Library of Birmingham was built. The Forward sculpture burnt in an arson attack during 2003.
The Colonnade at the Peace Garden
Seen at the Peace Garden in 2009, it is now near Ridley Street and Washington Street. Originally built near Broad Street in 1925, it was a Doric Loggia designed by S.N. Cooke and W.N. Twist. It was originally part of the Hall of Memory scheme. It was moved stone by stone to the site of the ruined St Thomas's Church in 1990. The Peace Garden opened in 1992. Work to layout the original Centenary Square started in 1989 and was completed by 1991.
dndimg alt="Colonnade at the Peace Garden" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Peace Garden Colonnade 2009 (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
Inside the Colonnade a plaques with messages from peace from different communities and faiths from around the world.
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The leaders of the G8 came here during 1998, and a plaque commemorating them planting 8 trees to represent each of the 8 nations. The Birmingham Summit was held between the 15th to 17th May 1998.
dndimg alt="Colonnade at the Peace Garden" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Peace Garden Colonnade 2009 (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
The Peace Garden is somewhere to sit for a bit of peace and relaxation, to get away from the stresses of life. Is also flowers planted around.
dndimg alt="Colonnade at the Peace Garden" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Peace Garden Colonnade 2009 (4).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
This plaque on the ground recalls when it was built in Broad Street in 1925, and moved here in 1990.
dndimg alt="Colonnade at the Peace Garden" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Peace Garden Colonnade 2009 (5).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
The Forward statue
This maquette of Raymond Mason's lost Forward statue was seen during a September 2018 open day at the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre. The original statue was installed around 1991, but was destroyed by a arson attack in 2003 (it's remains were removed).
The maquette is probably the only survival of the statue also known as the Lurpac statue. The full sized statue was made of fibreglass. I don't really recall seeing it myself.
Centenary Square in April 2009, with the Symphony Hall, The ICC and The REP. At this point the raised area of the square was still there, where once the Forward statue stood. But by 2010 the area in the middle was hoarded off for the construction of the Library of Birmingham. And when that opened, the paving was flattened, with grass around the new library amphitheatre (that grass is now gone with the new 2019 Centenary Square, still to be finished).
dndimg alt="Centenary Square April 2009" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Centenary Square April 2009.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
The Flame of Hope
Around the start of the new Millennium in 2000, Cliff Richard turned on the Flame of Hope. It was lit for about 2 years before it was turned off. It was still there in April 2009, before the Library of Birmingham was built. I would assume it went to storage where it probably remains today.
dndimg alt="Flame of Hope" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Flame of Hope site of Library of Birmingham 2013 (April 2009).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
The Spirit of Enterprise Fountain
This was by the artist Tom Lomax, made in 1991. Seen here in April 2009. I went all the way around having a look at the Spirit of Enterprise fountain. What a sight to see!
dndimg alt="Spirit of Enterprise" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Spirit of Enterprise Centenary Square 2009 (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
There was three different sides with water coming out of the mouths. This side towards Symphony Hall. There used to be benches around this area too!
dndimg alt="Spirit of Enterprise" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Spirit of Enterprise Centenary Square 2009 (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
The fountain was removed to storage later in 2009, before construction started on the new Library of Birmingham, which opened in 2013. It remains in storage to this day!
dndimg alt="Spirit of Enterprise" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Spirit of Enterprise Centenary Square 2009 (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
The first time I saw it again, was during a May 2012 free open day at the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre and this was the condition that it was in!
dndimg alt="Spirit of Enterprise" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Spirit of Enterprise at BMCC 2012 (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
The only water in it now was rain water! Looking a bit unloved left outside near the shipping containers and old statue plinths with graffiti nearby.
dndimg alt="Spirit of Enterprise" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Spirit of Enterprise at BMCC 2012 (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
Doesn't seem likely that it will be returning to Centenary Square any time soon. While Industry & Genius and A Real Birmingham Family recently returned, it's doesn't look like this fountain will be coming back! Even the Boulton, Watt & Murdoch statue should be coming back soon!
dndimg alt="Spirit of Enterprise" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Spirit of Enterprise at BMCC 2012 (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
Lighting grille
Seen in February 2018 was one of the lighting grilles installed in 1991. This one was outside of The REP. It was on of the items designed by Tess Jaray, with the City Architects Design Team and Tom Lomax. Similar items such as benches and railings have all now been removed. This Centenary Square lasted just over 25 years before the City Council decided to change it all over again!
Construction & regeneration
20 Apr 2019 - Elliott Brown
Did you know?
The Centenary Square we never got in the 1940s
Long before the 1991 Centenary Square, or the 2019 version coming to completion now, the City Council previously had plans for another Civic Square! During World War 2, William Haywood made a model of a proposed Civic Centre that was never to be. Only Baskerville House and the Hall of Memory were built, but the War intervened! The model is now at the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre.
Long before the 1991 Centenary Square, or the 2019 version coming to completion now, the City Council previously had plans for another Civic Square! During World War 2, William Haywood made a model of a proposed Civic Centre that was never to be. Only Baskerville House and the Hall of Memory were built, but the War intervened! The model is now at the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre.
During my first visit to the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre on Dollman Street in Nechells, Birmingham, in May 2012, I saw this model of the Proposed Civic Centre in what I called the garage area of the collection (full of vintage cars, fire engines etc). Official website here Birmingham Museum Collection Centre. I've been on two free open days so far, mostly the same collection, from what I saw on both visits.
This is what Centenary Square could have looked like, had the design of this model have been built after the end of the War, but it was eventually shelved due to cost and other reasons.
It was made by William Haywood, at the Baker Studios in Erdington in 1941 (while World War 2 was on). The scale is 1" to 12ft. He was a special lecturer in town planning at the University of Birmingham, and it took him 12 months to complete. The model represents a variety of public buildings including a Planetarium, Natural History Museum, and City Hall, as well as extensive gardens and car parks.
According to Pevsner Architectural Guides Birmingham, William Haywood was involved in schemes for the site since at least 1918!
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model of proposed Civic Centre 1941 (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
On the left on what is now the site of Symphony Hall and The ICC (completed 1991), it was proposed to have the West Wing of a City Hall, but only Baskerville House on the East Wing was completed in 1938. The circular building in front of it would have been the Planetarium. We only ended up getting one of those in Millennium Point in Eastside by 2001, within Thinktank. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre (aka The REP) was built in 1971, on the left hand side of this model, probably where those formal laid gardens could have been.
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model of proposed Civic Centre 1941 (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
At the centre would have been a 'Municipal Tower'. It would have had a nude male statue representing the Spirit of Birmingham. The Council approved the scheme in 1944 (for the City Council offices), and William Bloye made a maquette of the statue in 1948. But the project was abandoned in 1949 for being too expensive.
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model of proposed Civic Centre 1941 (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
Formal gardens were proposed for the site that is now the Library of Birmingham, while the wings of the Council offices behind (that never got built), later became City Centre Gardens, and the Civic Centre Estate with the 1960s tower blocks of Cambridge Tower, Crescent Tower, Norton Tower and Galton Tower. Crescent Wharf blocks north of Cambridge Street. They were by the City Architect, Alan Maudsley in 1968. Baskerville House was the only part of this scheme to be built, along with the Hall of Memory. Before the Library of Birmingham was built between 2010 to 2013, the site was used as a car park.
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model of proposed Civic Centre 1941 (4).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
Everything to the left of the Hall of Memory and Baskerville House was never built, due to the War, or for being too expensive. There was another proposal in 1958 by A.G. Sheppard Fidler, with a less formal layout, with water features with municpal office podium on the north side, but that too didn't get built.
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model of proposed Civic Centre 1941 (5).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
A close up look at the Planetarium and the west wing of the City Council offices. It would have looked identical to Baskerville House. There was a Colonnade in the square for many years, which later got moved to the Peace Garden, and there used to be a fountain in the middle too (before my time).
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model of proposed Civic Centre 1941 (6).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
Another view of the west side of the unbuilt City Council Offices. Had it been built, somewhere in this building could have been a Natural History Museum, War Museum and an Opera House. This is the site of The ICC and Symphony Hall. Until 1984, it was the site of Bingley Hall, a bit like an exhibition hall, but it burnt down in a fire.
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model of proposed Civic Centre 1941 (7).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
One last look at the model at the Museum Collection Centre. The classical look may have been favoured in Victorian times, and in the Inter War period, but after the War architectural styles changed, and by the 1960s and '70s we got brutalist concrete buildings like Birmingham Central Library (1974-2013, demolished 2016). And now we have a mix of classical and modern buildings. The Municipal Bank was built on Broad Street in 1933, and that is now being converted for use by the Library of Birmingham. While HSBC UK at 1 Centenary Square, stands on the site of Central TV / ATV, which was formerly a Masonic Hall in classical style (also now demolished).
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model of proposed Civic Centre 1941 (8).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
In 2015, for a time the model was on display at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, a long with drawings on the walls of proposed Birmingham buildings, and those that got built. It was about Birmingham's past redevelopments. This was the last time I saw the model in the museum, but I think I may have seen it in there once before. So the last time I saw it again was at the Museum Collection Centre in 2018.
dndimg alt="Civic Centre model at BM & AG" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Civic Centre model BMAG.JPG" style="width: 100%;" />