UMIST

UMIST Missed

Posted on October 8, 2022 by modernmoocher

Whilst Oxford Road echoes to the sound of Freshers fleet of foot.

UMIST is only home to fallen leaves and a palpable air of melancholia.

The last of the students have left and a crew of hi-vis workers are busy stripping the remains of days long gone.

We have all walked on by before and will again – though with heavier heart, into an all too uncertain future – for only the Holloway Wall is listed.

Now a grand redevelopment project has been unveiled to tend to that. According to the developer’s website, the plan promises to accelerate growth, partnership and collaboration.

Christened ID Manchester, the plans could see the area hacked into a glass maze of ultra-modern offices, apartments and hotels.

Mancunian Matters 2021

UMIST – Manchester

Posted on April 5, 2021April 5, 2021 by modernmoocher

Every now and then, I get the yen to come back here again.

Having included the site on one of my Manchester Modernist Walks, I pop by protectively just to make sure everything’s still there.

The custodians The University of Manchester may well be averse to listing and have already removed Chandos Hall.

Forever.

In addition, a whole block and a walkway have been subtracted.

Thereby placing the Hans Tisdall mosaics: The Alchemist’s Elements in jeopardy – currently held in storage, who knows what fate awaits them?

Discussions have taken place pre-lockdown, another year on and possibly the possibility of a positive resolution.

Consequently I always approach the site with a slight sense of foreboding, it’s Easter and there’s nobody about.

The trees are just about to burst into leaf, there are bright bursts of cherry blossom on the bough.

The sun shines down from a big blue sky, strewn with wisps of cloud.

Let’s have a look around – it’s springtime for UMIST and Modernity!

Holloway Wall – 2020

Posted on July 28, 2020 by modernmoocher

Of course I’ve been here before – and you may have as well.

And I’ve been to Huyton too.

Tony Holloway’s work also illuminates the windows of Manchester Cathedral.

As well as the panels of the Faraday Tower, just the other side of UMIST.

The wall is listed, fenced and obscured by the gradual incursion of assorted greenery.

It’s beginning to attract moss, amongst other things – just not like a rolling stone.

Like nearly everything else, it looks different each time you pass by, more or less light, new tags and signs – so here it is as of Saturday 13th June 2020.

Locked in during the lockdown.

Tony Holloway Sculptural Wall – Manchester

Posted on March 10, 2020March 10, 2020 by modernmoocher

Sculptural wall and sound buffer – 1968 by Antony Holloway in collaboration with architect Harry M Fairhurst.

Concrete approximately 68 metres long and between 4.5 and 6 metres high – Brutalist style.

Grade II Listed June 10th 2011 – Historic England

The only structure on the former UMIST site, now part of the extensive University of Manchester estate.

Regularly visited on our Manchester Modernist walks, along with his nearby architectural panels.

I have even ventured as far afield as Huyton in search of other exemplars.

This is work of the highest order and importance.

It sits by a busy London Road, behind an intrusive green steel fence, slowly acquiring a green patina – as moss and lichen attach themselves to the well weathered concrete.

Receiving occasional visits from the errant urban tagger.

It deserves much better – a lush grassed apron, discrete public seating, regular tree maintenance – respect.

We do not suffer from a surfeit of significant mid-century public art – its guardians should straighten up and fly right.

Right?

The Mancunian Way – A57(M)

Posted on September 16, 2019September 16, 2019 by modernmoocher

I’m walking, yes indeed I’m walking – I’m walking the Mancunian Way.

Previously posted as historical journey – this, as they say, is the real deal, one foot after another, one sunny afternoon in September.

From east to west and back again – in or on, under and around our very own Highway in the Sky.

Part of the ever changing patchwork of demolition and development which defines the modern city. The carriageway prevails, whilst the pervasive rise and fall continues apace, its forlorn pedestrian underpasses may soon be superseded by wider walkways.

Manchester City Council is spending around £10million to make major changes to the junction where Princess Road meets the Mancunian Way and Medlock Street.

Much to the chagrin of local residents, who value the solace of their sole soulful green space and the frequent users, passing under the constant waves of sooty traffic.

What you see is what you get today, tomorrow is another kettle of concrete, trees, traffic and steel.