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IWalking around a crowded city, we rarley look at the surrounding buildings. This magazine is devoted to the old and new architecture around

Birmingham.Throughout this magazine we will focus on three main themes; reflections, decay

and merging.We hope you enjoy the visual delights included in

this issue.

Contentspagereflections

reflections1 2-3

8-9

6-74-5

10-11 12-13 14-15

20-21

30-31

16-17 22-231918

26-27 28-2924-25

pagereflectionsreflections

1

Just how many of us remember Birmingham Canal Navigation Office?

The modern buildings of Birmingham sit amongst the old.As the city is constantly redeveloping, more and more

new and exciting architecture greets our skylines.

As the old buildings crumble and fade into long distant memories, new

adventures and memories are built and developed.

Paradise Row? Chances are very few; the building was demolished in 1912.

Over 1,900 buildings are listed as protected in Birmingham. Yet many more

are scheduled for demolition as part of rejuvenation projects.

These ‘lost’ buildings will never be experienced again.

Perspectives

Perspectives

PPerspectives

erspectives

The details in the

older buildings are

by the reflections in

windows. Revealing

As we walk around

often we will look up

ery. More often than

along, travelling with

a window what do we

shop’s display or the

mimicked on its surface?

Birmingham, it’s not

and take in the scen-

not, we are ushered

the crowd. To look at

see? Ourselves, the

surrounding buildings

architecture of the

warped and distorted

the new buildings

unique perspective.

2

PerspectivesLooking into these mirrored

another world. A parallel

what we are used to.

surfaces we can see

universe in reverse to

erspectives

and ornate detail, these

of features that you could

The twisted and distorted

irregular new windows,

With meticulous curves

older styles have plenty

spend hours looking at.

version reflected in slightly

reveals a unique viewpoint.

3

Wa t e r

Wa t e r

waterWa t e r

Wa t e r

It’s not only windows that play with sunlight.

parent objects. And not all light comes from

atmosphere, where fluorescents and neon’s dominate.

Modern windows are uniform

in or square. They also reflect

surrounding buildings, creating a

10

Light

Shadows are created with solid and semi-trans-

the sun, at night; the city takes on a different

size and shape, often rectangular

the colours of the sky and its

symmetrical second city.

With advances in technology,

built taller, and the glass larger.

forgotten sunlight to shaded areas.

The lunar society got its name from attending meetings only in a full moon. There were no street lights, only the moon to guide them home

at night.

Glass was hard to

sheets. Old style win

many smaller panes.

of glass were varying

Darkmanufacture in large

dows are composed of

of glass were varying

in thickness.

modern building are able to be

These large panes of glass reflect

7

through Looking

With advances in technology and

unique and intriguing ways of

buildings have developed. The stun-

windows can reflect a true likeness

monuments maturity, or add

more materials at our usage, more

decorating surfaces of windows and

ning textures we can see on these

of the building opposite, enrich a

texture to a concrete structure

through

Glass

It’s not just the reflec

add appealing detail

are added with cur-

When looking at a

ately see the surface

at it in more detail ,

tion of the reflection.

tions of windows that

to our view. Textures

atains and transfers.

window we immedi-

pattern, when we look

we see the transforma

10

11

igbethDBy Astra Wheeler

Henry Bradford, who owned land on Bradford Street, played a large role in this. In 1767, he donated land

to anyone who wanted to trade there. In order to cater for all the workers on Bradford Street, there were over 20 public houses, with only three still remaining.

There were a number of well-known industrial com-panies that set up home in Digbeth, such as the Birming-ham Battery and Metal Company. In 1876, the Birming-ham Battery and Metal Company moved from Digbeth to Selly Oak. The Typhoo Tea Company was also settled in Digbeth’s S Rose and Co building from 1896 until 1978. Despite being used a warehouse after 1978, the old factory is currently vacant. In 1860, Bonser and Co, an iron mer-chant firm, also had a warehouse built in Digbeth,

Bird’s custard factory was also located here. It was founded by Alfred Frederick, and became a popular cus-tard company because they produced custard that didn’t include eggs. Even after the factory closed down, it was still used for other purposes. Part of the building was turned into a library. It opened in 1866, on October 26th, and now Deritend Library is now the oldest library build-ing in Birmingham, and is the only surviving library from the city’s original five free libraries. The custard factory is also now used as a conference centre, as well as an art ex-hibition space, holding events such as the clothing vintage fair.

Even though a lot of the old factories and warehouses are no longer in use, there is still a lot of industrial activ-ity in Digbeth. Over the next few years, due to the Big City Plan, this area of Birmingham will undergo a lot of redevelopment, converting the vacant buildings into more exhibition spaces, apartments, offices and retail premises.

igbeth

13

Digbeth

16

CurzonStreet Station

17Street Station

Curzon Station is an old train station located near the city centre of Birmingham. Today, only the entrance way

still exists, after the train station was closed down in 1966. The entrance is grade 1 listed building, and is the oldest

surviving railway building in the world. The station was built in 1838, and designed by architect

Philip Hardwick, who also designed the original Euston Station. His architectural design was inspired by Roman

architecture, which is evident through its four tall pillars at the front of the entrance, as well as a further four

at the back of the building and the architectural details attaching the pillars to the roof. When the station was in use,

is contained a booking room, stone staircase, refreshment room and offices.

Curzon Station was originally used as a terminus for the Birmingham and London railway, and the Grand Junction

Railway, connecting Birmingham to London, Manchester and Liverpool. The first train arrived to this station

arrived on September 17th 1838, leaving from London. It was originally known

as Birmingham Station, but was changed to Birmingham Curzon Street Station in November 1852.In 1854, New

Street station, currently one of the biggest train station’s in Birmingham, was completed and shared the Midlands

railway with Curzon Station. As there is only half a mile between the two stations, New Street became more popular,

and was being used instead of Curzon Street, which is why by 1854, Curzon Street station stopped transporting passengers

on long journeys, and was used as a goods station instead. However, it continued to run short journeys for passengers

until 1893. It also stopped being a goods station in 1966, when Curzon station closed its doors for good.

Curzon Street Station

The Co-op The old CO-OP furniture factory is located near Digbeth, Curzon Street station and Aston University. It was and old Victorian building that Birmingham City

council was trying to save. They planned to do this by redeveloping

the old factory. However, this all changed on January 11th 2007,

when it burnt down on what was believed to be an arson attack. It took 40

fire-fighters and 11 fire engines to put the fire out. Even though the outside and

most of the structure survived the fire, the roof collapsed on itself

due to the structure being weakened by strong winds.

FactoryCurzon Street Station

The co-op Factory

22

23

The constant development of architechtural structures in Birmingham

Cla

shes

of d

esig

ns, c

olou

rs, t

extu

res,

geom

etry

, lan

dsc

apes

Clashes of the Modern and the Classical buildings standing right next to each other, standing a road away, a path way yet are centuries apart in terms of creation

Adds a historical counterpoints against its dramatic neighbourWatch

This

This

The constant development of architechtural structures in Birmingham

Developing into its former industrial town, becoming a world class retail city

Clashes of the Modern and the Classical buildings standing right next to each other, standing a road away, a path way yet are centuries apart in terms of creation

Space

Adds a historical counterpoints against its dramatic neighbour

This

This

endless num

ber of builds and

renovations today

This

This

DiscoverTown Hall N

atwest Tow

er Rainbow C

asino Fire station tower W

aterstones Hall

Different

of memory Charles House The Wallis Suit National Provincial Bank

Discover

Worlds...Raddison Alpha Tower The Mailbox Colmore Gate

DifferentTh

e Ra

ddiso

n A

lpha

Tow

er Th

e M

ailb

ox C

olm

ore

Gat

e Th

e C

ube

The

of memory Charles House The Wallis Suit National Provincial Bank

Beyond the slick aluminium disks, LED

lighting and streams of shoppers you

find the hidden classics of the city. The

historical monuments of Birmingham:

Moore Street Train station and St.Martin’s

Church both either side of the iconic

Selfridges building.

A road away yet centuries apart with

the high beaming arches, great western

canopies and the criss crossing geom-

etry all unmasking distinctive features

of eras; showing

us changes and

development in

design and

technology to

enable such beautiful build-

ings to stand here today.

The beauty of these classi-

cal builds to the immediate

left and right of the Selfridges

building create a reflection

upon different styles from past

to present: somewhat allow-

ing us to live in different eras,

to uncover the city’s historical

roots and understand the soul

a regeneration of interest in the

city’s growth and industrialisation

throughout the years.

St.Martins church having a £1.9

million face lift funding the inter-

nal and external restoration of

the city, bought the 18th century

landmark back to the heart of

the city. The rock faced grimshill

of B

irmin

gham

.

Both

hist

oric

al m

onum

ents

are

liste

d bu

ildin

gs,

havi

ng g

one

thro

ugh

som

e re

nova

tion

and

face

lifts

to e

xagg

erat

e an

d em

phas

ize th

e

cont

empo

rary

Sel

fridg

es b

uild

ing.

Lea

ding

to

stone, sandstone interior and beaming

timbre roofing, exemplifies the gothic

splendour. Now allowing people to enjoy

the architecture and have a quiet prayer.

The Selfridges build cost a huge £530

million to build, with its criss crossing

A RoadAway yet

Centuries 28

stone, sandstone interior and beaming

timbre roofing, exemplifies the gothic

splendour. Now allowing people to enjoy

the architecture and have a quiet prayer.

The Selfridges build cost a huge £530

million to build, with its criss crossing

Away yet

Centuries

geom

etry

, refl

ectiv

e gl

ass,

chro

me,

spun

alu

min

ium

, LED

light

ing

and

sky

plan

e ro

of. I

t cov

ers a

n ar

ea o

f 25,

000

met

ers;

guzz

ling

thou

sand

s of s

hopp

ers

per d

ay: r

efre

shin

g th

e fo

rmer

indu

stria

l

city

into

the

mod

erni

satio

n.

Moo

re S

treet

stat

ion

havi

ng c

ost £11million in restoration to

bring it’s authentic features

of the Great Western Railway

style of train platforms, en-

trance canopies, old clocks,

foot bridges and bold iron

gates; back to how it would

have been back in its heyday.

Now enabling the station to

deal with the huge market

produced in the town centre.

Apart...

All three pieces of architecture

are strikingly different; centuries

apart, each either side of an

ultra modern Selfridges building.

They allow us to reflect on iconic

style, and add historic coun-

terpoints against its dramatic

By Khushbu Patelneig

hbou

r add

ing

war

mer

, hist

oric

al

coun

terp

oint

s to

the

mod

ern,

col

d, g

lass

filled

skyl

ine.

Ove

rall e

ach

and

ever

y

build

ing

is ac

cum

ulat

ing

Birm

ingh

am’s

stat

us a

s a th

rivin

g, c

ultu

ral,

ente

rtain

ing

and

indu

stria

l city

that

it is

toda

y!

29

Amongst the

Birmingham

doom & gloom

is the bright and Blue30

Amongst the

Birmingham

doom & gloom

is the bright and BlueThroughout Birmingham we are able to notice a very repeti-tive, muse, of the colour blue streaming through the archi-tecture, football team logo, university logos, blue brick rail-

ways etc. Although there are the yellow, red brick and concrete build-ings up today we can see that the bold blue colour has run through the classical builds to the modern structures up to-day; showing a distinctive as-

sociation of the colour blue and Birmingham throughout

the eras. From the elaborate detailing of blue flooring around Vic-toria square, to the bolder,

compulsive blockings of blue on the Radisson, the Cube building and several other structures sitting around Bir-

mingham. Is it getting to the point

where it is becoming an ob-sessive characteristic; with the all the modern buildings created in the colour and run-down buildings being rejuvenated with blue tinted glass? Or is it considered as

the soul of Birmingham?It’s not until you look around to realise the obsessive blue which we are surround-ed with in Birmingham… Are we living in a

blue planet?

Lyndsey HaleAstra WheelerKhushbu Patel

By