Places

Plastic planting at John St NCP carpark

Making MCR look bad

Where did the idea for the FIBA Awards come from?

"Ask yourself this: it has been 10 years since the Manchester bomb presented the city with a massive opportunity to rethink itself – did Manchester get the architecture it deserves?

"There are lots of awards for ‘good’ architecture. In fact, it sometimes seems that all architecture is award winning, but in reality, 95% of new buildings are nondescript, utilitarian, derivative, cheaply built or just plain bad. The problem is we have to look at the consequences of bad architecture for 50 years or more.

"Usually, the public have little opportunity to comment on the built environment but it is the main component of their visual landscape. The official planning consultation process is somewhat arcane and impenetrable, involving deciphering a white letter stuck to a lamppost and then tracking down a room in the bowels of the town hall – a bit like the Da Vinci Code! The FIBA awards are an open access way of getting people to consider quality in architecture, comment on it and, in so doing, demand better."

How did you come up with the categories?

Michael Trainor

"The categories were decided upon by a secret panel of judges whose daily professions are largely concerned with the visual and built environment. The reason it is a secret panel is so that they felt they could comment without inhibition. The categories formed themselves naturally by grouping together the most popular nominations."

Was hard to come up with the nominations?

"The nominations came easily. Once they started, it was hard to stop the judging panel from thinking of potential nominations for ‘Feeble Ideas and Bad Architecture’. There was a surprising degree of agreement so it was easy to pick the top three nominations for each category. The most important thing, though, is that people can make their own nominations – the judges’ selections are just suggestions."

How do you think the architects and designers will take being nominated?

"Some might be upset and even be big enough to acknowledge the reasons they have been nominated, but I suspect a lot will not care. After all, they decided that their designs were good enough for public spaces in the first place. As an artist who has done a lot of work in public spaces, I have received a lot of criticism myself - some fair, some not - but at least it makes me think very hard before undertaking the next project."

Is Manchester worse than other cities in terms of architecture?

"No. Manchester has some very fine buildings but not many of them were built in the last 10 years. I was born in Manchester and think it is a very important city, but sometimes it underachieves. Manchester deserves and needs to compete internationally, not just regionally – it is the architecture and major public structures which spring to mind when we think of great cities elsewhere in the world.

"I don’t think an image of the Bridgewater Hall pops into the minds of people in Sydney when Manchester is mentioned or that the residents of Chicago are going to be buying postcards of the new Beetham tower."

If you had to pick one building that sums bad architecture in Manchester, which would it be?

One Piccadilly

"No.1 Piccadilly. All the panel agrees. An inconsiderate building without any pleasing proportions or detail in a prime location - blocking the sun from hitting Piccadilly Gardens. As lovable as a call centre, what a lost opportunity. It looks like it can only have come about as the result of some dubious deal."

Why did the plastic plants in John Street NCP get a special nomination?

"For being so hilariously bad. Three foot high of plastic vines is not going to mask the nasty 11 floors of 70’s multi-storey plonked at an angle in the historic Northern Quarter so why bother? The fake plastic hanging baskets are heavily bolted on and the whole thing is more 1970s Greek restaurant décor than modern international city. There just wasn’t anything else like it to form a category so it got a special nomination."

Are there any good modern buildings in Manchester?

"Sure, there are quite a few good buildings but not one I would say is breathtaking or challenging in an international field. It might be that the building of the CIS tower in the early 1960’s  was the last time Manchester allowed itself to be really daring, although even that was a building form which was derived from 1930’s Germany."

Which is your favourite bit of Mancunian architecture and why?

"This week it is the ‘toast rack’ in Fallowfield. The 1958 Hollings Campus building for catering students - bold (in its day), memorable and even humorous - yes, why not?"