belfast skyline
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…Ariels and masts…
God, I didn’t know there were fairies on the tops of highrises!
You can forget looking at the bottom of the garden, then…http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8025036.stm
bbc article on changing cityscapes in the uk.
Belfast used to be a very attractive city. Unfortunately little or nothing of it was left standing after WWII. How lucky for Dublin that they opted out of that one.
You’ll also find that many buildings built up until the Good Friday agreement tended, for some reason, to take on a rather “defensive” design approach
Victoria Square is a very good addition to Belfast; the dome is an amazing place from which to view Cave Hill and the bay. Sadly other than Victoria Square which has completely dominated prime retail (and has enough void space to satisfy all high end demand for another 5 years); the opportunity to build high quality buildings is curtailed by the rental levels acheivable by developers. Until such time as top graduates remain in the city the capacity for outstanding buildings beyond the odd civic commission or if tourist driven leisure continues to grow; is sadly limited. 😮
A real pity as Victorian Belfast was a real treasure; less call centres more fund management….
Victoria square destroyed more than 1/4 of Belfast’s surviving georgian stock. Although for some that was a positive thing. Victoria Sq. is very impressive though, and I just wish ABP wasn’t so uptight about the Dublin Central scheme, the proposed skypark would have been just as interesting as viccy’s dome.
@cgcsb wrote:
Victoria square destroyed more than 1/4 of Belfast’s surviving georgian stock. Although for some that was a positive thing. Victoria Sq. is very impressive though, and I just wish ABP wasn’t so uptight about the Dublin Central scheme, the proposed skypark would have been just as interesting as viccy’s dome.
Really? I do remember that there was controversy that one of Belfasts oldest pubs was demolished/closed to make way for it but I thought that the only large scale demolishion involved Churchill House, a 1960s slab?
@thebig C wrote:
Really? I do remember that there was controversy that one of Belfasts oldest pubs was demolished/closed to make way for it but I thought that the only large scale demolishion involved Churchill House, a 1960s slab?
there was a good bit of decaying georgian housing, in fairness I suppose it was only fit for demolition. A similar pub opened just outside victoria square in a classic building, not sure if it’s different owners though. The kitchen bar I believe it’s called.
@rob mc wrote:
Is that the Obel in the last picture?? Looks pretty ugly from that angle!
Yes, thats the Obel in the last two pictures above and i agree that it looks less than flattering from here. It appears to turn its back on the city centre. Here is another view of it taken from the Short Strand area across the river. Showing its better side imo.
It will look better from the front; this is a very good example of why it is important for planners to request montages from a variety of angles placing any proposed building into context. That said I’d not criticise it for being anything other than a little plain from the back; it is not like the fenestrations or building materials are ugly; maybe it was part of a plan to mass a few surrounding blocks to create a design of blocks; taking Canary Wharf as an example it looks good as a mass of buildings but a lot of the individual blocks are very simple shapes that individually would not work as well as in concert.
I was in Belfast two weeks ago. Eventhough its core centre is considerably smaller then that of Dublin’s, the westmoreland st/ o connell bridge axis aside, it had I felt much more of a big city feel to it than its southern counterpart. Dublin due to its lowrise nature and big (in comparison to Belfast’s) centre, feels like an enourmous town and Belfast’s relevatively small core and plethora of tall buildings, just about slips into (small) big city status.
And before anyone starts going “here we go again, high rise v lowrise etc blah blah; it isn’t a rant on that subject. It’s just an observation OK? 🙂
I also think that the city hall is one the finest examples of Edwardian architecture I’ve ever seen. Very imposing and impressive. Imposing can be a good thing too! It’s a pity they moved to wheel. I would have liked to have a go on that!
@Desmund wrote:
. . . . Belfast’s relevatively small core and plethora of tall buildings, just about slips into (small) big city status.
I also think that the city hall is one the finest examples of Edwardian architecture I’ve ever seen. Very imposing and impressive. Imposing can be a good thing too!
I would agree with Desmund, up to a point, but I think the best parts of Belfast are the three or four decent streets in the core where there’s still a Victorian/Edwardiam coherence, not the bits dominated by some pretty mediocre high rise blocks.
There was a slight ‘Temple Bar’ feel to some of the little streets around where the Victoria Square Centre was developed and that’s mostly gone now, but at least the new centre made a conscious effort to connect with Belfast’s great Victorian heritage and I think in that regard it’s been much more of an urban success than any of the random tower blocks I’ve seen.
I do think that the robust scale of the average Belfast streetscape meant that it was better placed to absorb some taller buildings than say Dublin, and I think some of the more modest [and better designed] of the taller structures, like that 60s block with the abstract muriel up at the Albert Clock, add to the urban quality of the place rather than take away from it.
a rough 1980s sketch of the space in front of the Albert Clock@Desmund wrote:
I was in Belfast two weeks ago. Eventhough its core centre is considerably smaller then that of Dublin’s, the westmoreland st/ o connell bridge axis aside, it had I felt much more of a big city feel to it than its southern counterpart. Dublin due to its lowrise nature and big (in comparison to Belfast’s) centre, feels like an enourmous town and Belfast’s relevatively small core and plethora of tall buildings, just about slips into (small) big city status.
While its tempting to draw comparisons between the two biggest cites on the island for all sorts of reasons, street planning isn’t one of them.
Belfast is a child of the industrial revolution.
Dublin is a tired old granny by comparison. (Still feeding her errant grandchildren).A more suitable comparison to Belfast is Manchester.
Both places suffered damage during WW2 resulting in their grid layout.
As a regular visitor to Belfast and Manchester, I often have to check with myself briefly when I turn a street corner, to remind myself what city I’m in.Dublin and Belfast are very different towns.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/releasethestars/2471805499/
Unusual view of part of the south Belfast skyline, looking west from Queen’s University.
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