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Aberdeen's Seven Wonders, Seven Horrors
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Listeners to the Today programme on BBC Radio Four will have enjoyed their recent series on The Seven Wonders And Seven Horrors Of Britain. You are invited to nominate, via our Guestbook, The Seven Wonders And Seven Horrors Of Aberdeen.
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On Knowing The Difference Between Good And Bad
Many of us developed an interest in the design of our built environment not because of good architecture but because of bad architecture, and partly because there is so much of it around.
Walking back from the Castlegate to the Brig o' Dee some years ago, I was struck by the fact that every building I liked along the way dated from long before I was born, and that nothing put up in my own lifetime, or since World War Two, was any good at all. From the splendid Flemish-Gothic Town House of 1867 to the Neo-Brutalist St Nicholas House of 1967; downhill all the way!
I like to think that things have bottomed out, perhaps as far back as the 1980s, and have since improved, but the evidence is uncertain. The Lighthouse Cinema and that side of Shiprow are good; Talisman House in Holburn St is an improvement on the old College of Commerce; but is the Boots building at the Brig o' Dee an improvement on the late unlamented Dee Motel?
It is not that we set out to be negative; more that it is not possible to know good architecture or good design when we see them if we have no concept as to what constitutes bad architecture and bad design. Aberdeen provides plenty of examples, good and bad!
20th August 2002
Nominations for Seven Worst Bits of Aberdeen
St Nicholas House. Ugly from any angle, but most of all as seen from Schoolhill/Upperkirkgate.
The Gallowgate; did anyone plan this jumble of unrelated rubbish?
The Triple Kirks; sticking out like a rotten tooth in its otherwise very attractive surroundings.
The Mounthooly Roundabout; the ultimate waste of space.
The A96/Great Northern Rd/Haudagain approach to the city.
The Denburn multi-storey car park.
The 'What Everyone Wants' building just off the historic Castlegate and the associated NCP multi-storey car park on Shiprow.
The elongated eggbox between Huntly St and the Music Hall, currently occupied by Somerfield.
Nominations for Seven Best Bits of Aberdeen
The view of the Town House and down the length of Union St, as seen from the Castlegate.
St Nicholas Kirk
Union Terrace Gardens and view of Belmont St.
'Education, Salvation & Damnation' in Rosemount Viaduct.
The Duthie Park.
King's College Chapel
St Machar's Cathedral
The view of the Harbour from the Torry Battery.
Old Aberdeen Town House.
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