Manchester: A Guide to Recent Architecture

Rating:
Summary: A city we can learn from
Review: I bought this book after watching the British television movie, "Queer as Folk," which is set in Manchester, England. The bars, restaurants, public relations offices, apartment buildings (old and new), provided an exciting backdrop to the club-hopping, trend-setting characters in that movie. The combination of modern architecture and the thoughtful repurposing of nineteenth century factories and warehouses struck me as exciting and playful.

Although I have been unable to identify any of the buildings from the movie in David Hands and Sarah Parker's "little guide to [Manchester's] recent architecture," the book did confirm my sense that the people of Manchester have worked hard to be neither pure preservationists nor reckless redevelopers. Each of the 65 structures covered is represented by one or two photographs and receives, at the most, a page and a half of descriptive text. The photographs are beautiful black and white images, though sometimes it is difficult to tie the image (often a detail, such as an entryway) to any particular description within the text. The writing is delicious and beautiful in its own right, even when you're not quite sure what the authors are talking about. (For instance, this of Malmaison: "To avoid pastiche the new facade is grey-granite aggregate and concrete block. Designed to be behind the Hoyles building, sliding into a former lightwell in its V-shaped plan. This juxtaposition has informally bonded the two volumes, creating a large hard-landscaped piazza, clearly identifying the hotel's presence and purpose.") There's a lot in these descriptions to unpack, but I feel the authors have made astute observations and assessments (usually positive, though they are not afraid to deliver a well-earned jab here and there as well).

As a guide, I felt it suffered from the lack of a good, comprehensive introduction (for instance, I would like to have learned more about Manchester's industrial past and to have gotten an analysis of how the city responded to the 1996 IRA bombing that was responsible for much of the city's recent rebuilding). I would also have liked to have had a map or two, suggested walking tours, and more context photos. But for it's price and size (a very compact 4 X 4 inches), I was quite satisfied with what I got.