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Walking The Viaduct Pt2
Yesterday saw the second pair of walks of the street-level route of Duddeston Viaduct.
In the morning I met with Nigel Edmondson, a City Centre Design Manager for Birmingham City Council. Nigel also used to work on the urban design for the East Side of Birmingham as well, and so knows a lot about the plans - past, present and future - for Digebeth. We discussed the possible uses for the Viaduct as part of a larger scheme for connecting various parts of the city.
In the afternoon I walked the route with Ben Waddington, an artist/historian/typophile with a keen interest in the histories that are told by the architecture. Ben talked about how the Viaduct told a story - not only of its own history, but of a larger, and more recent history of the treatment of Digbeth.
A final pair of walks will be taking place shortly.
Posted by Rich
News,
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Walking The Viaduct Pt1
On Friday I did the first two street level walks of Duddeston Viaduct accompanied by an invited guest.
At lunch time I met with Bob Ghosh of K4 Architects (who have already been looking at what could be done with the Viaduct here). We talked about the structure, its oddities, and how it seems to work as a framing device - creating vistas through its arches and influencing the shapes and sight-lines of buildings.
In the afternoon I walked the route with Pete Ashton. Pete is, amongst other things, a photographer, tour guide and teacher. Pete’s view was practically opposite of Bob’s. Where Bob saw potential for change - for developing the Viaduct and making it into an accessible and useful space, Pete wanted to leave it wild. As he pointed out, the top of the Viaduct had been pretty much untouched for over a hundred years.The plants, trees and any animals that have made it their home have done so in a completely natural way. Perhaps it should be preserved? - or as Pete pointed out, even preservation requires some human interaction - it should just be left as it is.
Both guests remarked upon the apparent invisibility of the structure - how it has become part of the everyday landscape and in many cases ignored.
Next week I’ll be meeting two more guests to walk the route and see where the conversation takes us. These conversations will be used to create content for ‘Viaduct’, a special one-off publication about the Duddeston Viaduct designed to raise awareness of this amazing structure.
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Magazine
In order to try and raise awareness about the Duddeston Viaduct and my project I’m working on a one-off magazine about it, to be distributed around the area. The magazine will contain (among other things) a map of the viaduct and the streets that follow it, a short history, activities and ways to get involved with my final project at A3 Project Space.
If you have any interesting information, images, stories or thoughts about the viaduct please get in touch via the contact page. Any contributions will be acknowledged (unless you want to remain anonymous?)
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You Are Here,
Map
Map showing the position of the abandoned viaduct and the zig-zagging road route to follow it.
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Research,
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