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contentsHistorical BirminghamInteresting Facts of Birmingham

Historical SignificanceBirmingham’s finest historical architecture

Post War BirminghamWilliam Cotterill, Former Birmingham Newsagent manager of 51years shares his views on the city

The Big City Plan Introducing the regeneration of Birmingham - higlighting changes that are set to reshape the city

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Creative Arts SceneWe take a look into the exciting and experimental ways Art is being nurtured in the city

Design TeamDaniel KindleyWei QuitianMark KiszelySaadia Kiyani

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Portmanteau is a promotional magazine that highlights the past, present and future of Birmingham in the theme of old and new. This issue explores the finer historical building at the heart of the city, with interesting facts and interviews on how the city has evolved over the years. Portmanteau also taps into the diverse sprawling urban playground that is Birmingham’s creative arts scene, looking at the rise in popularity of ‘pop-up galleries’ and how Eastside is proving to be the place for young professionals. The regeneration of Birmingham is underway; Portmanteau high-lights the significant changes that work together in shaping the 21st century city, underpinned by the Big City Plans ‘MasterPlan’.

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View Portmanteau’s promo-tional Ident by scanning the QR barcode with your smartphone, alternativly visit; www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYnyVJol0Ng

Scan Me

Birmingham city, 1886

Source: Drawing by H. W. Brewer, taken from “The Graphic”, 1886. Available at :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Birmingham_in_1886.jpg (Accessed 11 November 2011)

historical BirminghamBy

Wei Qitian

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• Birmingham’s first canal opened in1769, it now has more miles of canals than venice.

• James Watt, developed the first reliable steam engine in1775, working alongside Matthew Boulton, as a firm Boulton and Watt sold the industrial revolu-tion to the world.

• Birmingham was granted city status in 1889 by Queen Victo-ria.

• Nick named The city of a thousand trades

• The city suffered heavy bomb-ing damage during World War II's ‘Birmingham Blitz’, leaving parts devestated.

• Birmingham was extensively redeveloped during the 1950s and 1960s.

• • The soon to be replaced Cen-

tral Library is the city’s busiest building, lending out a stagger-ing 8 million books each year.

Facts

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The Iconic Birmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concer t and meeting venue located in Victoria Square. Created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festi-val, established in 1784, the Venue

now welcomes in excess of 600 events and concer ts every year, appealing to a diverse audience, r e f l e c t i n g B i r m i n g h a m ’ s e v o l v i n g d e m o g r a p h i c s .

h i s t o r i c a l Significance

As an International Chinese student having never visited Birmingham, I asked the people from my local area what they though of the city prior to me moving to Eng-land, some said it was the most ugliest city in the country with too many modern buildings overshadowing the historical architecture. In my opinion I prefer the more traditional buildings such as, the Town Hall, Museum and art gallery, and the coun-cil house, as I believe they best reflect and represent the history of Birmingham.

Editor Wei Qitian

Source: Town Hall original Image Taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/veryvery-quiet/3331363862/sizes/o/ (Accessed 21st November 2011)

TownHall

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Birmingham City Council house, known locally as, ‘Big Brum’ was designed by architect Yeovil le Thomason and constructed be-tween1874-1879, with the first stone being laid by the mayor Jo-seph Chamberlain. Soon after the building was extended, forming the orignial Museum and Art Gallery. The grade II listed building holds a collection in excess of 500,000 objects , dating as far back as 200,000 years ago to the present.

The Chamberlain Memorial was designed by architect, John Hen-ery Chamberlin and erected in Chamberlain Square, during the year 1880. The the 65 feet grade II listed monument was built to com-memorate the public service of Joseph Chamberlain.

Source: Chamberlain Memorial original Image taken from: http://commons.wiki-media.org/wiki/File:The_Chamberlain_Me-morial,_Birmingham_-_DSC08778.JPG (Accessed 21st November 2011)

Photography by Wei Qitian

Council house

chamberlainMemorial

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What impact did the war have on Birmingham?

“Being the second most bombed city in the UK, parts of Birmingham was left devastated, especially the rail-ways and industrial factory’s such as the spitfire factory, formerly known as ‘Fish & Ludlow’ in Castle Bromwich, (now Jaguar car factory) and much of the inner city was affecte too”.

After the war, with equi-librium restored, how soon did the city show signs of refom?

“After the war finished around 1945, I visited an area of the city known as ‘The big top’, near New Street station, where there was an unexploded bomb that was being used as a moneybox in aid of the war effort. A plus side to the war was that in a way it im-proved certain areas of the city, such as, destroying the not so nice back-to-back Victorian houses. It wasn’t

until the 60s & 70s that Birming-ham showed signs of change, when they started erecting larger build-ings and high rise blocks of flats which were faced with concrete, an example being the central library, however people didn’t like this look and Birmingham soon gained the nickname the “Concrete Jungle”.

What do you think of the modern buildings that are frequently erecting in the city?

“I think the modern buildings such as the Bullring are shaping Birmingham for the better, and the city has a lot more to offer than it used to, plus there are far more opportunities es-pecially for younger people in educa-tion, compared to when I was a pupil”.

What would you consider to be a negative aspect of the City?

“Birmingham was known as the City of a thousand trades and it’s a shame that over the years a lot of the factory’s and the car indus-try have suffered to the extent that they’ve either been forced to close or had to relocate, one of which being Rover (formally known as Austin)”.

What do you think could improve Birmingham?

“The introduction of the high-speed rail in Birmingham that would en-able visitors from other parts of the UK to visit the city in a fraction of the time it takes on a normal train”

And finally, Birmingham in a nutshell?

“As good as any, better than most and doesn’t get the credit it deserves”.

Former Birmingham based newsagent manager of 51years, William Cotterill, 76, shares his views on how the city has evolved since the war and adapted to the 21st Century and here’s what he had to say;

B i r m i n g h a mPost war

Interviewed byDaniel Kindley

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Work by Daniel Kindley

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Creative

Art has always been a key ingredient in mak-ing Birmingham such a successful and exciting

city to visit and live in. The home-town for musicians in some of the world’s biggest bands, such as Black Sabbath and Duran Duran, the city has always been a crea-

tive hub, with the population and prowess to set trends. A sprawl-ing urban playground with more diversity than you could shake a stick at, it continues to be at the forefront of art development in the country, but akin to cities like London and Manchester, the way its art is promoted and displayed

Arts Scene

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Small spaces such as ‘Fotofilia’ in Birmingham Jewellery Quar-ter provide an intimate and re-laxed atmosphere when admir-ing art, something that can often be missed in galleries such as the custard factory or the ikon, where the feel is almost clinical. This said, professionally run gallery spaces will always serve an important role within Art, but it is becoming more

and more apparent that with the right drive and attitude, artists can achieve a lot of success when man-aging their own exhibits entirely.

Pop-up galleries have increased in popularity around the city, with artists taking on a D-I-Y mental-ity when displaying their work. Through purchasing their own stu-dio space, the Artist takes full con-

trol of when their work is exhib-ited, instead of shows being limited due to expensive gallery costs. This ensures that regardless of what day you look, there is always an exhibit on somewhere within the city, with the vast majority in de-veloping areas such as Digbeth, The Jewellery Quarter and Kings Heath.

Arts Scene

Editor Mark Kiszely

Source: Left Image taken from: http://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/media/uploads/2009/12/3275/20-simon-and-tom-bloor-01-as-long-as-it-lasts-installation-view-east-side-projects-birmingham-2009-jpg.jpg(Accessed 18st November 2011)

Central Image taken from: http://fotofiliablog.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/djr_3698.jpg (Accessed 18st November 2011)

Right image taken from: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jacklee/Birmingham/im-ages_Birmingham/20050622-Ikon.jpg (Accessed 18st November 2011)

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E astside is considered to be the oldest area of the city and has developed more than most. Factories lin-

ing the sides of the canal show of the time when Birmingham was an epicentre of industrial activity, but many of these factories have since fallen empty, and something new has been needed to fill them. With a little time, and partly due to the low price of space, Art, De-sign and Innovation quickly moved in, and have since star ted to change this dereliction into a bus-tling, sought-after locale. Eastside is now rich with Studio spaces and galleries and is proving itself to be the perfect place for young pro-fessionals to set up, with its close proximity to the city centre. As the area develops, so its features are refined, with the introduction of trendy bars, clubs and shops, all increasing Eastside’s popularity.

Iconic buildings such as the Cus-

tard Factory will always be key reasons as to why the area has such a bright outlook, with the companies culminating there being modern and innovative. However, it is also the ar tistic en-deavours set up in the area that gives it distinction, in my opinion. Projects such as ‘The Lombard Method’, an independently run space by a group of local ar tists, where they not only focus on art in all its finished glory, but also the process it takes to get there, with the instilling of an idea and the pro-duction that follows. In late Octo-ber 2011, the Lombard Method also helped with hosting a Visual-arts festival, featuring work by artist groups nationwide, as well as showcasing some of their own.

Project Pigeon is another quirky take on art, where in 2009 they launched a project named ‘Picto-rial’, where they used pigeon’s to carry ar twork by different ar tists across the country to the Birming-

Eastside

Editor Mark Kiszely

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Eastside

Photography byMark Kiszely

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Britan’s second city, Birming-ham is to undergo a £6bn makeover. The project titled

‘The Big City Plan’ directed by Clive Dutton is said to be, the most am-bitious, far-reaching development project ever undertaken in the UK.

The masterplan is at the heart of the operation that began in 2007, its intention is to regenerate and re-image the city and its surround-ing areas through transformational changes, this will support sustainable

growth also putting Birmingham’s cultural life at the heart of the city.

What will the masterplan bring to the city?

Over the coming years Birming-ham will benefit from a whole host of enhancements under the operation, those include:

The £600m gateway scheme, cre-ating thousands of jobs, an ex-tended Midland Metro Line linking

Snow Hill Station with New Street Station costing £129m, the rede-velopment of New Street station, complete with a John Lewis de-partment store worth £400m, City Park in Eastside costing £12m, and introducing a High Speed Rail, link-ing Birmingham and London, driv-ing economic growth and boosting jobs. A new £12m City Centre In-terchange on Moor Street Queen-sway, which will improve the bus systems, and not forgetting the new and iconic £188m Library.

the Big

City�P l a n

The regeneration of Birmigham

Editor Daniel Kindley

CentralPark

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M a s t e r P l a n

New Library Scheme

Source: Big city plan proposal & im-ages (2010) taken from: http://bigcityplan.bir-mingham.gov.uk/more-information/ (Accessed 29 October 2011)

High Speed Rail

RedevelopedNew StStation

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the New Library SchemeOne of the much needed

changes is the £188m Li-brary scheme replacing

the Dated, Brutalist style Central Library, deemed as no longer fit for purpose, designed by Birmingham born architect ‘John Madin’, in 1974, situated in Chamberlain Square. Its iconic modern, replacement, de-signed by Dutch designers ‘Meca-noo’ is set to open in 2013 and will be Europe’s biggest library. Its

exterior will be faced with a repeti-tive, steel circle pattern that refers to 19th-century craftsmanship, re-flecting Brum as the ‘cast-iron city’; creating beautiful ambient shadows when lit up.

Editor Daniel Kindley

Out with the OLD

Source: Big city plan, new library image (2010) taken from: http://bigcityplan.birmingham.gov.uk/more-information/ (Accessed 29 October 2011)

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Out with the OLD

in with the NEW!

Work by Daniel Kindley

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The launch of the Self Por-trait Project was revealed at this years Artsfest that

will run In conjunction with the New Library, commissioned by Birmingham City Council. Over-seeing the project is, writer, de-sign consultant and photographer Brian Homer, who was one of the organisers of the original inspired Handsworth selfportrait project in1979. Working alongside a num-ber of artists and photographers, brian’s intent behind the project was to capture the divercity and multicultural society of Birming-ham through photography.

To make this possible, several mo-bile studios were erected across the city, enabling members of the public to take part at their leisure. Upon completion of the Library in 2013, all participants of the project will have their portrait featured in a major installation within the new library in 2013.

Editor Daniel Kindley.

Inspired by, Handsworth’s self-portrait project, 1979.

Source: Handsworth self portrait project family portrait (1979) taken from: http://www.selfportrait.org.uk/(Accessed 22 November 2011)

the SelfPortraitProject

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BirminghamOld Street

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Work by Daniel Kindley

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Birmingham New Street

Source: Big city plans New St station image (2010) Taken from: http://bigcityplan.birmingham.gov.uk/more-information/ (Accessed 29 October 2011)

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Work by Daniel Kindley

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