MAURICE Shapiro was on good form when he took Confidential readers on a tour of the 42nd Street charity building in Ancoats last week.
I work in an abstract way first and foremost. The notion of an amazing cantilevered, horizontal restaurant formed in my mind which would be at high level giving incredible views over the water and the city.
Along with David Hamer from architects Bradshaw Gass and Hope and the lovely Vera Martins from the charity he explained the thought process behind the distinctive building, why it has that wall on a wonderful angle and how they had to make do and be inventive when the money ran out.
My favourite bit, apart from the entrance hallway, is probably the interlocking wall of iron that fronts Great Ancoats Street. It can be locked into place fortress-like or opened with one hand to allow light and access onto an inner courtyard.
Shapero at 42nd Street
This interlocking is a facet of another Shapiro building - this one will be the tallest tower on Liverpool’s waterfront if it gets planning.
It’s on the site of the old King Edward pub ( the tower is for the moment known as King Eddie), just up Dock Road from the Three Graces and at 67 storeys will tower over adjoining buildings.
There will be a couple of floors of shops at the bottom, another layer of offices, topped by residential with a restaurant in the horizontal section.
Shapiro explains it thus: “I work in an abstract way first and foremost. The notion of an amazing cantilevered, horizontal restaurant formed in my mind which would be at high level giving incredible views over the water and the city.
“A tube of space with open ends which cut across and through the relentless tyranny of the vertical........of the skyscraper. This unexpectedness, drama and slaying of notion that skyscrapers are all about being 'up', is consistent with my approach to architecture. But oh no, this is a cross! Is it a symbol or the most fundamental form in Architecture......up and across?
“So to the question of religious symbology. My cross comes from the god of the spatial dimensions. I don't feel that it would be true for Architecture not to express this form because of the illusion that it is owned by a particular tradition.”
Conceptual
So it’s not a giant cross?
“All this verticality needs a counter, it invites opposition. A horizontal element free from the tethers of ground. A balancing feminine gesture to its own relentless Yang.
“A dramatic cantilevered restaurant breaks the form high in the sky. My favourite geometry - an intersection from opposite spatial directions - a Cartesian grid - the Cross.
“ I come to it from rational inevitability. Two of the three extreme dimensions of space. The obvious question......this is the symbol which references one of the ultimate places in human spirituality. Should I be restricted from using it when it has come from my own investigation, imagination, conclusion? Equally obvious is my answer, to me hierarchy and ownership are as illusory as everything else in this world.”
Manchester should envy Liverpool this building. If it gets built.
King Eddie
