As you driveup and over the A690 into Durham and glance at the welcometo County Durham sign you will then be amazed at the sight in front of you which is now a world re-nowned world heritage sight. Durham Cathedral is the greatest Norman building in England, perhaps even in Europe. It is cherished not only for its architecture but also for its incomparable setting. In a nationwide BBC poll held in 2001 it was voted the nation’s best-loved building. Like Hadrian’s Wall and the Angel of the North, it is an icon of north-east England, its image is instantly recognisable to people who love this part of Britain.
The cathedral sits on a hill of land surrounded by the river wear. The cathedral is built in Norman style and architecture and is also the tomb of saint Cuthbert. When I’ve visited the Cathedral its stain glass windows and pillar stone supports whcih reach up to 30 feet high are sculpurtured and crafted to perfection. You get a strong emotional feeling when you enter the cathedral from the huge vast halls and endless room between the floor and ceiling. The student housing and accomadation for Durham University is also built onto the church and all the first year students still live there as was the same in Norman times for settlers in Durham. The court yard was deigned to open up onto the main town centre and so is a beautiful spot for students and familys to rest, picnic and just chill out. For me the building itself is beautiful and is a grat landmark to have for Durham as it is the first and last thing you see whn entering/leaveing the city.
Published on August 4, 2008 11:57 am.
Filed under: Architecture
The reason I ve decided to debate a post on this isn’t because of the clothes they sell, the colours they use, there identity. Its because of the way the interior has been designed and laid out although for a lot of you who have shopped there in the past may think ‘ but its just a mess’ it is actually designed to be layed out and planned like this….. and guess what it works!! hugely works. I worked for the company for 5 years in the one same shop and I know myself trying to just get to the next floor is a nightmare. People with prams cursing and screaming about the lack of space cues of single isles weaving down to the tills at the back huge metal ball bins slammed right in your way just as you think your at the till, which yes is at the very very very back of the store, not at the front like most stores so you can pay as you leave.
All this is done on purpose, stands are crammed onto the shop floor to make it harder for people to get past for the simple reson that it makes them stop and look at the stand!! As there fighting there way past I would see them all the time swearing and getting annoyed due to lack of space then suddenly stop and ‘ oooo that looks nice’ pick it and continue on this would happen all the way to the tills at the back. Thus the tills are placed at the back so the customers have no other choice than to pass every single stand and have no choice but to view every single item before they can pay and in most cases ensures they leave with a lot more than what they came in for.
Sports World is now almost a Monopoly in the department store market with only JJB competing with them.
I think the statistics speak for themselves at how clever Architecturally interior designing of a shop even in the case of being annoying to the customer actually works. Super markets like Asda and Tesco are the same, its all about getting the customer to notice and be interested in as many items as possible.
Published on July 30, 2008 10:07 pm.
Filed under: Architecture
No this is’nt Greece Its Newcastle!
Penshaw monument was built in 1844 on the hill of Penshaw in memory of the first earl of Durham. It was based on the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens the one seen on Jason and the Argonourts. It is 100 feet long and 73 feet wide, each column is 6 feet in diameter. The monument features on Sunderland afc s Football badge and is also said to be the place of the lambton worm. I find this piece interesting probably for the wrong reasons, I appreciate the structure and that it looks impressive but like I said this isn’ t Greece!! Whats funny about this design is that if you ve ever travelled up the A1/M1 to Newcastle and turned up the A19 to head into Newcastle you ll probably see this and to put it simply it looks out of place, Architecturally its fantastic, it even has an engraved staircase all the way round the pillars that lead to the top for you to walk around, but looking at it, you have a symbolic Greek Structure on a hill surrounded by bright red brick housing, 3 Industrial estates one of which produces huge amounts of steam 24/7 and a huge fast pace constantly busy motorway?? Now to me just talking about this makes me smile, Architecturally this has no symbolic reference to the North at all I could understand if it was a Monument of stature based on our mining in the old days or our ship yards, but its based on a Greek gods temple. I guess for me in my opinion this is Architecturally designed well but Architecturally placed wrong.
Published on July 30, 2008 9:48 pm.
Filed under: Architecture
Now we all know the Sydney Opera house is a fantastic piece of Architecture, but what struck me most when i saw it was the tiling structure it made from. When seen on all the post cards it looks white and plain but when looked up close as you can see in the photos its far from this. It has a very symmetrical tiling system that runs over each part of the Theater consisting of white diamond tiles and a dark cream diamond tile that is separated down the middle. Even the separations are interesting they appear at exactly the same distance apart spread every where. When you get up close and forget the obvious fact that the structure is meant to be viewed from a distance you see a different side to the structure. You could say it looks dirty as the cream tiles are a close tone to soil and muck.
Or is it done on purpose to stop strong reflections from the sun blinding the ships on the river?????
The tiles reminded me of a space shuttle and the overall structure which is comprised of 10 segments reminded of individual orange pieces cut in half or shark fins sticking out from the water.I havent been able to find the answer to why the tilings were created like this but never the less I find them an interesting piece of architecture design.
Published on July 30, 2008 2:38 pm.
Filed under: Architecture
“An over looked piece of design” in my opinion.
The tyne bridge is a compression arch suspended-deck bridge over the river tyne in Newcastle where im from. It links Gateshead and Newcastle and was designed and engineered by Mott, Hay and Anderson. It was officially opened by George 5th.
The bridge although not that well known is actually quite a landmark in the North East it has become symbolic of our awsome nightlife and brand new key side which holds the Baltic and Opera house with new developments springing up all the time making it one of the most wanted living areas in the North. I guarantee if you’ve ever been on the train into Newcastle traveling over the water and seeing the bridge with Newcastle’s key side back drop will excite you.
Besides that it is more famous, the well known Sydney Harbour Bridge was based on the Tyne bridge, its structure, colour, design and ergonomics were all based around the Tyne’s.
Compare the two pictures you will notice the similarities. Now for me living in Newcastle to have our bridge be studied and copied and then built in the famous and beautiful Sydney Harbor makes me feel proud because it s a bridge that I ve crossed and millions of people cross every year but it doesn’t get recognized to the extent that the Sydney Bridge does and for this reason I think the Tyne Bridge is a fantastic architectural design having influenced one of the most famous bridges in the world.
Published on July 30, 2008 2:15 pm.
Filed under: Architecture
