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Governing Magazine - Placemaker Profile: Allan Jacobs
Exchange Square
Manchester, UK
Contributed by Project for Public Spaces
Fancy paving, sweeping design statements and hidden water leave the user with no place to go and nothing to do in this inflexible square.
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Why It Doesn't Work
Like Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam, Exchange Square is known as an "event space." The problem is that it only works when events are taking place. Its fancy paving, sweeping design statements and hidden water feature dress the square up, but leave the user with no place to go. Over-designed, inflexible, and dominated by rows of awkward sitwalls that impede pedestrian flow and gathering, this square should be exchanged for a place that actually displays a rudimentaty understanding of how people use public space. It masquerades as a civic square, but actually prevents this space from really evolving to celebrate the true richness and diversity of Manchester.
User Comments:
- 02/01/07 Heidi Sokolowsky said:
- I cannot agree with your assessment. I have visited Exchange Square both in summer and winter time and the space was well used. The continuous concrete benches are a welcomed place for rest and the water feature is especially loved by kids. Yes, the design is quite directional, but this is not necessarily a bad thing considering the triangular shape of the space. One gets the impression that most contemporary designs are generally disfavored by you although there are great examples out there that obviously work. I think that contemporary design adds to the richness of cities and emphasizes the old and original. In my opinion, mimicking the design of past centuries cannot be an universal solution and often enough creates environments with a fake and "disneyesque" feel.
- 09/26/07 Charles Blanc said:
- Thank you for describing Exchange square the way you did. I visited it this year and was gobsmacked by it, what a perfect example of an anti-urban, anti-public square. How to put as much as you can in a space in order to reduce to the maximum its potential uses, it is a show space (and not very good at it neither), not a public space.
- 02/24/08 Ricardo Ares said:
- Couldnt agree more with your assessment. The space looks interesting but only works as a movement corridor, and only then if you're moving in the direction the ramps will allow!
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