handle. every window. every light fitting has been designed as if‘ it were a one off. and it's almost as difficult to build as a (jaudi cathedral. Miralles designed spaces that surprise you as you move from one to another. and where you can suddenly find yourself looking up at the sky. or across another part of the parliament complex to see the landscape.
ll' Holyrood means anything. it is how it will feel in 25 years. or in a century. that counts. The parliament will have proved itself architecturally if' it can do something to persuade the fractious. childish. tired and emotional. the exhibitionists. chancers. zealots. and anoraks who make up the mainstream of political life to think a bit more about the country they represent. and the essentials of‘ civilised life and to behave in a slightly more measured way. Could it have been built for less‘.’ Certainly. ls it value for money.
No. But how do you place a value on the view of'
the green slopes of' the hillside outside. or the sense of continuity that comes from installing Donald Dewar's library in the shell of the aristocratic house in which the Act of' Union was hidden from the lidinburgh mob'.’
Extract of essay by Deyan Sudjic from Architecture in Scotland 2002-2004. Published by The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design and the City, available from 23 Sep from Form, the Lighthouse Shop, 0141 225 8422, priced £10.
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HOW TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF Those wanting to see where their taxes have gone need not wait any longer. The Scottish Parliament opened for visitors on Tuesday 7 September - the building itself is completed, but external landscaping and the internal positioning of art is not. Since that date the exhibition centre, the cafe, the committee towers, the visitors’ creche (the only one at any European parliament) and the chamber have been open to visitors from 9am to 7pm on business days (generally Tuesday to Thursday). The debating chamber has 225 seats for members of the public, with booking advised, especially for groups of six or more.
On non-business days (normally Mondays and Fridays, and when the parliament is in recess), the chamber is unoccupied and the building is open from 10am to 6pm weekdays (April to October) and 10am to 4pm (November to March). Guided tours begin on Monday 11 October - phone the number below for more information.
The formal opening of the Scottish Parliament by the Queen takes place on Saturday 9 October. The ballot to allow members of the public to attend the ceremony is now closed.
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Urban acupuncure
Edinburgh has its new mega—building, but Glasgow’s regeneration plans are more diverse, as architecture festival BLOCK shows.
ities need people more than people need
cities. 80 what's going to keep them
there? What makes you put up with all the trials of urban living to feel pride and identity with a sprawl of buildings and a mass of people who you will never know? And if you don't is that a problem? For the city it is. If peOple are leaving because they COuld be anywhere and the grass is greener on the other side no-one will be around to invest in the life and soul of the great. dirty beast. There's got to be a pull.
Glasgow is trying. After the disastrous unfinished motorway projects of the post-war era. the city then faced 808 Thatcherite policy. which butchered industry and left swathes of the metropolis battered and blighted. The new millennium has seen a worldwide shift in thinking and ownership: cities are something to belong to. celebrate and look forward from. And the one defining thing that links citizens within a city is its architecture — the People's Palace belongs to Glaswegians. the Empire State building to New Yorkers. Centre Pompidou to Parisians. the Tyne Bridge to Geordies. They are theirs — a city's histOry bearing testament to the familial nature of its citizens. in the fabric of its glass. steel and cement. Brick is thicker than water.
The first architecture festival, Block, seeks to open the past. present and future of Glasgow's urban spaces up to its peOple through a programme of events and discussions. At the heart of the festival is an Urban Summit in which Cheryl Hughes. director of program development for the City of Chicago. joins speakers from Glasgow. Edinburgh. London. Dublin. Sunderland and Rotterdam to discuss how Glasgow's regeneration can be sustained. 'In Chicago for Over 50 years we have actively been prodUCing large scale festivities and cultural programming — it is seen very clearly as a right of the Chicagoans.‘ she says. 'We take it seriously as
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citizens and we expect quite a bit. Eveiything that we do programming-Wise is free and open to the public.’ Chicago is arguably the most progressive of all American cities in this respect. and it's not a tokenistic gesture. 'In the city of Chicago when we are developing a public space we're all at the table Just as much as say. transportabon.‘ she says. 'The use of culture and the use of the arts is a very important part of developing and planning a City because people want that ~ they want to be surrounded by culture.‘
It is a marked contrast to the questionable decision making that went into planning the Holyrood proiect. although public attachment and pride for the titanic structure is yet to be known. But in general Glasgow is showmg greater awareness of its Civic duties. 'Because there is so much new budding and regeneration, particularly along the river, it's important that everybody reCOgnises that the public need to know about it.' says Leonie Bell. programme director. '80 what we've done in the programme is try to reflect the urban strategy that the council has. I suppose we've tried to highlight what Glasgow was and what it is now and what it can be again'
Block comcides With Doors Open Day so that the city's closes. nooks. crannies. green bits. dusty bits. hallowed corridors. monuments to former and future greatness and failure are at their most Visible and acceSSible. Temporan/ Cinemas are gang up in the Hidden Gardens and Rottenrow and walking tours are threading through the Necropolis as well as the Gorbals — 'Brutalism to Regeneration. Cheryl Hughes has a nice way of saying how they do it in Chicago. 'Urban acupuncture,‘ it's 'gomg in and activating a spot.‘ she says (Ruth Hedgesl I Block Festival, Sat 78—25 Sep, various venues Glasgow. See City Life listings page 99 for fist/rigs and visit www.b/ockarc.co.ul< for full details or call The Lighthouse. 0747 227 6362 for a programme.
9—23 Sep 2004 THE LIST 15