Liverpool is one of the most famous trading cities in the world. The view of its Pier Head with the Liver Building has become iconic: it has been called the second city of the British Empire and in the 1930s it became the model for Shanghais Bund. The city suffered a slow decline in the latter half of the 20thcentury; industries closed or moved away, postwar architecture was mostly mediocre and the citys population fell as citizens sought employment further afield. Local people even began to shop elsewhere. As Manchesters star ascended inthe late 1990s, the heart of Liverpool was in danger of becoming economicallyinconsequential. In 1999, the city council set out a challenge for international developers as part of an ambitious initiative to reverse this trend and encourage people to visit, live in and invest in Liverpool once again. The vision was for a reimagined and extended city centre, one that rethought the vast and under-used space between the principal shopping area and the citys historicdocks. Forty-seven developers expressed an interest and, after a rigorous selection process, the job went to Grosvenor. The result is a 42-acre transformation, a mixed-use, retail-led development that embodies both contemporary urbandesign thinking and a deep sensitivity to ideas of place, identity and scale.Containing more than 30 individually designed buildings including department stores, a bus station, apartments, hotels and a five acre park this complex project was completed within an ambitious timetable to exceptionally high-quality thresholds. Grosvenor, and its 26 firms of architects, have created an entirely new, but uniquely Liverpudlian, urban district. This book tells the story of this Herculean project, its origins, its design and its delivery. The book includes a preface from the Duke of Westminster, and features stunning new photography by principal photographer Paul Mcmullin with additional photography by Steve Gorton and Alan McKernan and archive photos, which tell the story of its history and redevelopment.
- ISBN: 978-0-470-71409-6
- Editorial: John Wiley & Sons
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 256
- Fecha Publicación: 17/04/2009
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés