St Peter’s Square v Piccadilly Gardens

In this article from Manchester Confidential, a somewhat opinionated website dedicated to all things Manchester (which, here at IPM, we love), Jonathan Schofield looks at two of the city’s largest public spaces, one is set to be redeveloped, the other, although developed in recent years, is suffering from its poor design decisions.

Last weekend for a fleeting moment in the old Visitors Information Centre in the Town Hall Extension five proposals appeared.

This was the shortlist for the re-modelling of St Peter's Square, the most confused public space in central Manchester. The winner will be announced in a couple of months and the work will be completed by 2014. All the entries were anonymous to keep the judges on their unpreferential treatment toes.

Part of the Council’s press release announcing the shortlist said: ‘St Peter’s Square currently lacks a unified identity and is somewhat cluttered because it has evolved gradually over the years.’

‘Somewhat cluttered’.

The Square is more of an obstacle course than a public space: there’s the weird walled crèche, the grim sunken Peace Gardens, a cycle track designed for knocking people over and a bus lane that makes an island of the tram stop. Worst of all the tram station is smacked into the face of the cenotaph with all the grace of an Asbo kid showing his bottom to a war veteran on Remembrance Sunday.

To read the rest of this illuminating article, please visit: http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Culture/Architecture/St-Peters-Square-v-Piccadilly-Gardens-_11699.asp?eid=568