The 'hated' freestanding concrete structure designed by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando was torn down
The concrete pavilion at Piccadilly Gardens has long had its critics since its installation in the early Noughties. While plans are afoot to redevelop the rest of the gardens, the fact that the council don't own the hulking structure opposite the bus station means we could well be stuck with it for some time yet.
But even before it was built, the proposed plans for the concrete structures had divided opinions. In June 1999, the Manchester Evening News ran a story revealing plans had split the public's opinion with one person finding the clean lines of the concrete 'inspiring and exciting' while another described it as "a bit naff".
In an editorial piece at the time the paper wrote: "For years Mancunians have despaired of the crime and concrete that still dominate the city's main public space - despite the town hall repeatedly pledging to sort it out."But not everyone felt the same way. Eddy Rhead, from the Northern Quarter-based The Modernist Society, a group which champions 20th Century architecture, argued the wall was being used as a 'whipping boy' for Piccadilly Gardens' wider problems.
"It's very easy to use architecture as a whipping boy for lots of much bigger problems and it's very easy for politicians to stand there and blame architecture rather than doing something about those problems."Anybody who knows anything about modern architecture knows Tadao Ando is a world class architect. Any other city in the world would give their right arm for a piece of Ando architecture.
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