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| Eyesore or gem: Greyfriars bus station | Eyesore or gem: Greyfriars bus station |
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| Picture: George Pollard BUILDING SITE Five controversial buildings - should they stay or go? The maxim of beauty being in the eye of the beholder is no more true than in people's estimations of modern buildings. To mark Architecture Week, the Magazine is taking some of Britain's most controversial buildings to task. | |
| Enlarge Image | Enlarge Image |
| Stand in the shadow of Northampton's Greyfriars Bus Station and sooner or later, somebody will pass by muttering vitriolic abuse about a structure that also incorporates a car park and office building. | Stand in the shadow of Northampton's Greyfriars Bus Station and sooner or later, somebody will pass by muttering vitriolic abuse about a structure that also incorporates a car park and office building. |
| It is a brick-and-concrete behemoth that dominates the town centre, described by eminent architect George Ferguson as resembling the "jaws of hell". | It is a brick-and-concrete behemoth that dominates the town centre, described by eminent architect George Ferguson as resembling the "jaws of hell". |
| Councillor Richard Church, Northampton Borough Council's cabinet member for regeneration, says it is time to push ahead with demolition of a white elephant and replace it with some landmark architecture. | Councillor Richard Church, Northampton Borough Council's cabinet member for regeneration, says it is time to push ahead with demolition of a white elephant and replace it with some landmark architecture. |
| But Northamptonshire architect Patrick Duerden argues that it's an important building with echoes of Paris's Pompidou Centre that fits into the architectural tradition of a town that features groundbreaking designs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and modernist guru Peter Behrens. | But Northamptonshire architect Patrick Duerden argues that it's an important building with echoes of Paris's Pompidou Centre that fits into the architectural tradition of a town that features groundbreaking designs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and modernist guru Peter Behrens. |
| It may not work as a bus station but it could still be put to good use, he says. | It may not work as a bus station but it could still be put to good use, he says. |
| DEMOLISH IT - RICHARD CHURCH, NORTHAMPTON COUNCIL | DEMOLISH IT - RICHARD CHURCH, NORTHAMPTON COUNCIL |
| I was just being shown around it to look at some of the problems - water coming through and leaking onto people's cars. To make it have any long-term future you would have to spend a vast amount of money, which people would not accept, especially bearing in mind the loathing it gets. It won't get better, it will only get worse. There is steady deterioration. | I was just being shown around it to look at some of the problems - water coming through and leaking onto people's cars. To make it have any long-term future you would have to spend a vast amount of money, which people would not accept, especially bearing in mind the loathing it gets. It won't get better, it will only get worse. There is steady deterioration. |
| FLATTEN OR SAVE? Gateshead's Get Carter car park Slough's Brunel Roundabout It was built in the 1970s when there was a very different attitude towards building and development from now. It was thought you could have big solutions. People didn't think in terms of buildings having any character or personality. They didn't relate to human scale. | FLATTEN OR SAVE? Gateshead's Get Carter car park Slough's Brunel Roundabout It was built in the 1970s when there was a very different attitude towards building and development from now. It was thought you could have big solutions. People didn't think in terms of buildings having any character or personality. They didn't relate to human scale. |
| The bus station is the kind of place you go into and feel you are being subsumed into something. If you walk up to it, it confronts you like a great big wall. It's situated not far off from where the old town walls used to be. It feels like you are facing a wall that's blocking you off from the town centre. You have to go into a dark subterranean walkway. | The bus station is the kind of place you go into and feel you are being subsumed into something. If you walk up to it, it confronts you like a great big wall. It's situated not far off from where the old town walls used to be. It feels like you are facing a wall that's blocking you off from the town centre. You have to go into a dark subterranean walkway. |
| It has been described as the "jaws of hell" (Picture: James Drake)Some people say it is a functional building, and have you ever seen a good-looking bus station, they are just not things you expect to be aesthetically pleasing. But I know an awful lot of bus stations that are an awful lot less intrusive. You get complaints about what a horrible place it is to use, how dingy and threatening it is. | It has been described as the "jaws of hell" (Picture: James Drake)Some people say it is a functional building, and have you ever seen a good-looking bus station, they are just not things you expect to be aesthetically pleasing. But I know an awful lot of bus stations that are an awful lot less intrusive. You get complaints about what a horrible place it is to use, how dingy and threatening it is. |
| Some might suggest it is a bit like visiting the House of Horrors in Madame Tussauds. I don't go along with that. I would rather be talking about good things in Northampton. | Some might suggest it is a bit like visiting the House of Horrors in Madame Tussauds. I don't go along with that. I would rather be talking about good things in Northampton. |
| If you get rid of the bus station you are going to open up a lot more land for development where you could build some true landmark buildings, that could be a real talking point. | If you get rid of the bus station you are going to open up a lot more land for development where you could build some true landmark buildings, that could be a real talking point. |
| KEEP IT - PATRICK DUERDEN, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ARCHITECT | KEEP IT - PATRICK DUERDEN, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ARCHITECT |
| It is a very interesting building because of what it does. It is a bus station, an office building and a car park. There aren't many buildings like that. It falls into the category megastructure, as described by Reyner Banham, like the Pompidou Centre. | It is a very interesting building because of what it does. It is a bus station, an office building and a car park. There aren't many buildings like that. It falls into the category megastructure, as described by Reyner Banham, like the Pompidou Centre. |
| It has this very innovative concrete truss structure and open plan offices. You have got these atria, they are open to the elements and on all four sides there is full-height glazing, these angled big sheets of plate glass. The architectural style of the building relates very closely to James Stirling, widely regarded as being the pre-eminent British architect of the latter half of the 20th Century. | It has this very innovative concrete truss structure and open plan offices. You have got these atria, they are open to the elements and on all four sides there is full-height glazing, these angled big sheets of plate glass. The architectural style of the building relates very closely to James Stirling, widely regarded as being the pre-eminent British architect of the latter half of the 20th Century. |
| Bus station atriumEnlarge Image Every generation hates the buildings thrown up by the generation immediately preceding. If you go back to the 30s, people hated Victorian buildings. In the 60s everybody hated the buildings of 30s. This is what's happening with the buildings of the 60s and 70s now. People don't like what they stand for - centralised control, social engineering. | Bus station atriumEnlarge Image Every generation hates the buildings thrown up by the generation immediately preceding. If you go back to the 30s, people hated Victorian buildings. In the 60s everybody hated the buildings of 30s. This is what's happening with the buildings of the 60s and 70s now. People don't like what they stand for - centralised control, social engineering. |
| My personal feeling is in another 10 years, but certainly in another 20 years, we will feel strongly the other way. We will come to look back to an age where there was a degree of collectivism, where problems were addressed head-on using all the engineering skills we had. Buildings like the bus garage will be seen as the cathedrals of that age. If you go to other countries people already feel very differently about modern architecture. | My personal feeling is in another 10 years, but certainly in another 20 years, we will feel strongly the other way. We will come to look back to an age where there was a degree of collectivism, where problems were addressed head-on using all the engineering skills we had. Buildings like the bus garage will be seen as the cathedrals of that age. If you go to other countries people already feel very differently about modern architecture. |
| Everybody knows the bus station because politicians whip it up because the press whips it up, people have been told not to like it. If people use their eyes they will see it for what it is. If you are catching a bus from there it's bleak and grim. The buildings got problems - well, let's address the problems. | Everybody knows the bus station because politicians whip it up because the press whips it up, people have been told not to like it. If people use their eyes they will see it for what it is. If you are catching a bus from there it's bleak and grim. The buildings got problems - well, let's address the problems. |
| The underpasses frighten some (Picture: George Pollard)Another reason to fight against it is the sustainability argument - think of the energy in that building, think of the CO2. So you pull it down, throw it in the ground and build another structure, future generations will be incredulous | The underpasses frighten some (Picture: George Pollard)Another reason to fight against it is the sustainability argument - think of the energy in that building, think of the CO2. So you pull it down, throw it in the ground and build another structure, future generations will be incredulous |
| Northampton Castle was demolished to make way for the railway station, and the bus station is like a fortification. It's the castle that Northampton lost. It is a real icon for Northampton. | Northampton Castle was demolished to make way for the railway station, and the bus station is like a fortification. It's the castle that Northampton lost. It is a real icon for Northampton. |
| Think Tate Northampton, instead of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, imagine what you could do with the bus station. You could make a fantastic art gallery out of it. You could make something wonderful that brings the life back into Northampton. | Think Tate Northampton, instead of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, imagine what you could do with the bus station. You could make a fantastic art gallery out of it. You could make something wonderful that brings the life back into Northampton. |
Send us your comments using the form below. | Send us your comments using the form below. |