Whayay man!

A few more snaps of Newcastle. Opening ceremony and competition pictures tomorrow probably.

I took quite a lot of pictures of the Trinity Centre, because I feel strongly that modernist architecture has - had? - a lot to offer. Too much of it was done cheaply, used the wrong materials, placed wrongly or never utilised intelligently. Many buildings were left to rot, so that their essential optimism about human behaviour became a cynical joke. The Trinity Centre was a case in point - an efficient, striking building which assumed that the future would be clean, stylish and social. Instead, it was allowed to become a rundown dump, vandalised and unloved until it became the kind of dystopian monster that the reactionaries always claimed it was.

Click on them for larger images or go here for the full set.

Newcastle Sunset

Tyne Bridge girders. That's proper engineering.

There's a real party atmosphere to Newcastle. The high and mighty, the holy and the fun-loving all exist cheek-by-jowl

Part of Newcastle Uni at night - tricky shot with no tripod or flash, but I like the colours.

Hoo's it gannin, hinny?

That's Geordie for 'How's it going, kid?'.
I have to say that everybody from Newcastle/Gateshead I've spoken to have been genuinely friendly - not just professionally helpful or kind but interested in what we're doing up here and  keen to do what they can.

It's a lovely city. There are massive areas of utter deprivation, but the geography and architecture of the city is varied and magnificent. Big wide streets, soaring bridges and loads of open space. Around the hospital, university and football ground is a lovely Victorian park, with open fields next to them. Newcastle United's bovine hoofers aren't alone: there's a herd of cows in the fields: the young athletes don't seem to mind them (and vice versa) but aren't impressed by dodging the cowpats.

Durham Cathedral and Castle (part of Durham University) from the train window

Detail from a pub doorway in Newcastle

The Trinity Centre, Gateshead - a Modernist masterpiece brutally treated.

Pedestrian walkway on the High Level Bridge, Newcastle

The Tyne Bridge, Swing Bridge and the Sage Centre

More pictures here. Click on the ones above for larger versions.

Newcastle and Gateshead: architecture special

I'm at the Hilton in Newcastle-Gateshead (twin cities divided by the Tyne). The place is full of iconic buildings.

From my hotel room, I have a fantastic view of the Trinity Square multistorey car-park. So what, you may ask?

Firstly, it's a stunning piece of sixties sci-fi futurism (or would be if it weren't built with concrete). It's now abandoned - the lower storeys have been removed, so there's only a skeleton left to dominate the skyline, though demolition is promised by Tesco.

Secondly - it's a key setting in that bleak, gritty classic, Get Carter.

A corrupt property developer (unfortunately not the architect, also responsible for the Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth) is thrown from the roof in the film. Actually, I rather like it as an abstract design, but the materials and setting are key, and I think they're both wrong in this case. I'd rather have this than another bloody plastic Tesco though. Can I be first to call them the BP of supermarkets?

These buildings need maintenance, which many of them never got, and they need to be flexible, which many weren't - built in an era in which planners thought they could shape the future themselves, the building failed when the proles failed to do what they were told - see also Sheffield's Park Hill estate (that's a video) - the largest listed building in Europe, now being refurbished by trendy designers Urban Splash.

Here's the Tyne Bridge. There are several bridges of varying ages across the Tyne. Uniquely, every single one is beautiful. 

My hotel's just to the right, overlooking the bridges.

Here we go…

Nice sunny day. We're therefore in a windowless room in the Gateshead Hilton which last night was a ballroom, judging by the twinkling stars and balloons bobbling around on the ceiling. The dreaded Powerpoint is up, and it's marked 'Today's Outcomes', which is giving me flashbacks to the very poor PGCE classes I attended. 'Have fun' is one of the 'outcomes', which has immediately set my alarm bells ringing.

As I'm doing the child protection bit, fun doesn't really come into it.

Person on my left has just prouldy shown me her golliwog keyring. Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear oh dear.

Newcastle/Gateshead are stunning - huge, elegant buildings of all ages jumbled together on hills running down to a fine river, spanned by the Tyne Bridge and several elegant others. I didn't bring my camera, so I'll post a couple of crap ones from my mobile phone when I get a chance. I'l definitely come for a weekend without meetings at some point.