Guildhall contest entries ‘exciting’, says heritage chief (From York Press)
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Guildhall contest entries ‘exciting’, says heritage chief
9:45am Wednesday 21st November 2012 in News
By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter
One of the shortlisted entries to the competition to redesign the Guildhall riverside area of York
A CONSERVATION chief has welcomed the “exciting and innovative” designs which architects have drawn up for a redevelopment of the riverside alongside York’s Guildhall.
Peter Brown, director of York Civic Trust, said the organisation was not automatically against modern buildings being situated next to historic properties He said: “It’s important to keep an open mind.
“What matters is whether they would be ‘good neighbours.’ They must be respectful of the character of the environment in which they are being placed.”
His comments came after The Press yesterday published images showing the five shortlisted entries from 36 designs submitted to a competition to explore potential future uses for the area, following City of York Council’s departure to a new HQ next year.
One of the designs features a modernistic building on stilts with a steeply pitched roof.
The designs will go on display in the Marriott Room at the York Explore library learning centre between Sunday and Tuesday during normal opening hours, and Mr Brown urged people to go along and give their views.
“It will be very interesting to see what the public think.”
He said: “There were some very innovative and exciting schemes amongst the 36 entries.”
Philip Thake, chief executive of York Conservation Trust, said: “My initial response is that none of them shout at me ‘It’s fantastic’, other than the one that looks a bit like a piazza.
“What York misses is a waterfront promenade between Lendal and Ouse bridges. If you go to any other city, that is what you would get.” Press readers commenting online yesterday were generally negative.
One person commented: “You have got to be joking. This is November not April 1.”
Another said: “It has to be sympathetic to the history of the site and not a ‘vision’ which will look outmoded in ten years.”
The winner, which will be chosen by a judging panel on December 4, will guide how the area is eventually developed, although the authority will still have to go through a procurement process for the eventual design and build.
Comments(10)
Oaklands Resident
says...
10:18am Wed 21 Nov 12
Instead they have been following the river Nidd at Kanareborough and looking at Mother Shiptons cave.
Form will have to follow function and the Council don't have a clue how to maximise the use of this listed building and its surrounds.
colette
says...
1:29pm Wed 21 Nov 12
lowbeam
says...
2:15pm Wed 21 Nov 12
Am I missing something here?The riverside walk from wellington row/north street,is that not by the river?
Am still checking my calender to make sure of the date!
meme
says...
3:05pm Wed 21 Nov 12
Or could it be a community facility and be paid for by someone else getting a PP which would have been refused under any other circumstances!
MouseHouse
says...
3:25pm Wed 21 Nov 12
pedalling paul
says...
9:34pm Wed 21 Nov 12
meme wrote:Now I know what PP really stands for......
It would be intersting to know what is the proposed use and how this would be paid for?
Or could it be a community facility and be paid for by someone else getting a PP which would have been refused under any other circumstances!
yorkborn66
says...
11:58pm Wed 21 Nov 12
We are just going through the motions as York residents will not be listened to but humored as usual.
Magicman!
says...
3:56am Thu 22 Nov 12
lowbeam wrote:That may be there but it is not wheelchair friendly and often has the evidence of being used by drunks and hobo's. The steps down the back of the park inn are brutalistic and not pleasant on a dull day nevermind at night.
“What York misses is a waterfront promenade between Lendal and Ouse bridges."
Am I missing something here?The riverside walk from wellington row/north street,is that not by the river?
Am still checking my calender to make sure of the date!
The east riverside, the bit being talked about in the main article, could do with a wooden walkway to join with the balcony outside the City Screen. With floating poontoons they'd never get flooded, and then the join from the river-level floating walkway and the city screen balcony could be achieved with a 'scissor-effect' criss-cross ramp, so that as the river level rises and the pontoons go up, the gradient on the ramps get less and less... and if ever the river level ever equalled the hgith of the city screen balcony then the ramp would just be dead level.
anistasia
says...
8:48am Thu 22 Nov 12
atorycouncil2014 says...
10:06am Wed 21 Nov 12
They may as well have drawn a moon ladder as there's as much chance of that being built