I am in Birmingham at the RPS Spring Assessments. As we finished in good time yesterday, and it was a lovely sunny and warm afternoon, I took a walk along the Oldbury Canal. Lots of graffiti but also old barges and canal-side mooring posts etc. The canal passes under the M5 and so lots of concrete.
Planned in the 1960s at the height of brutalism architecture in the UK with construction taking place 1970-73. The exterior cladding is pre-cast concrete panels of pink Aberdeen granite aggregate, with contrasting white concrete piers marking the angles and portals. Concentric stages of walling rise to a steep double pyramid roof. A cross in a tripartite spire of bevelled fins, rises to 167' . In plan the church is an irregular hexagon subdivided internally into varied polygons. The controlling module for all angles and dimensions is an eighteen inch equilateral triangle; a classical approach giving unity. The exposed white concrete interior was cast in-situ using Russian redwood formwork giving very crisp texture. The concrete was all mixed by one man. The plywood tetrahedra in the nave ceiling are part of the acoustic scheme.
I am working on a talk on architectural photography so an opportunity in my free time in Bristol to gather a few more images featuring the older coloured house in Bristol and their modern concrete versions, reflections and general abstracts.
