New Street Station Birmingham: main entrance on opening day
Atrium with stretched fabric cladding, giving access to platforms and shopping development
The reconstructed Birmingham New Street station opened yesterday 20 September, almost exactly two years after the opening of the new Library of Birmingham. Unlike that major and acclaimed project by Mecanoo, however, the architect has been nowhere to be seen in the fairly extensive media coverage- Alejandro Zaera-Polo of Foreign Office Architects with his then partner Farshid Moussavi got the commission in 2007 but walked off the job when, among other changes, cost cutting led to the replacement of the concrete of the atrium interior with stretched fabric. However much of the original design remains, it's highly regrettable and short sighted that a bold and highly original design should have been so compromised: imagine if Network Rail's in-house architects had been given the commission in the first place ?
A shopping centre, part of the development and dominated by a large John Lewis store, is named Grand Central: New York Grand Central Station is clearly the model, but is a far more impressive space- and dominated by an Oyster Bar rather than yet another branch of Pret a Manger ! The exterior, largely reusing the existing concrete frame of the replaced building is animated by twists and turns of faceted stainless steel cladding. An island site in the heart of the city, it is surrounded by streets both major and minor, and the facade's dazzling reflections are successful in bringing something strange and futuristic to the nineteen and twentieth century context that surrounds it.
A shopping centre, part of the development and dominated by a large John Lewis store, is named Grand Central: New York Grand Central Station is clearly the model, but is a far more impressive space- and dominated by an Oyster Bar rather than yet another branch of Pret a Manger ! The exterior, largely reusing the existing concrete frame of the replaced building is animated by twists and turns of faceted stainless steel cladding. An island site in the heart of the city, it is surrounded by streets both major and minor, and the facade's dazzling reflections are successful in bringing something strange and futuristic to the nineteen and twentieth century context that surrounds it.
Exterior cladding on south west elevation over Hill Street