Architect calls for Edinburgh to take risks and follow Manchester approach
The creator of Edinburgh’s proposed £50 million “film temple” has urged the city to follow how Manchester dealt with the aftermath of an IRA bombing to help shape the future look of the city by “taking risks”, embracing modern architectureandallowingnew buildings to “pierce” its historic skyline.
Architect Richard Murphy said Edinburgh had become riddled with “incredibly bland” buildings designed to ape or mimic its historic landscape, which had been allowed to spread around the city like cancer.
Mr Murphy, whose vision for a new home for the Filmhouse has had a mixed reception, claims the city suffers from a lack of “forward-thinking, planning and leadership” which have made it more difficult to get contemporary architecture approved.
He was speaking in an online debate weeks before plans are due to be lodged for the 121 ft tall Filmhouse building – which would be higher than the Sheraton Grand Hotel and the Usher Hall.
Mr Murphy, who was brought up in Manchester, said he wanted Edinburgh to have the kind of “hunger for the future” that his native city had in the aftermath of the terrorist atrocity in 1996. He said Edinburgh was still suffering from the legacy of “terrible” architecture approved in the 1960s and 1970s.
He added: “There was a collapse in confidence in architecture and architects and we became a branch of the criminal classes – the people who have spoiled everything, basically.
“We have to find ways of the city continuing and yet not disrupting what we enjoy about history. It is much more difficult to get new architecture past the planning committee.
“When I was 18 years old I left the sad town of Manchester.
After the IRA bomb went off they had a census and discovered there were 87 people living in Manchester. It was deserted at night. A great chief executive was appointed and really got the place going.
“They were hungry for change and to self-improve and have a serious incentive to have a better Manchester. It is unrecognisable now.
“I’d like to think that Edinburgh would have that hunger for the future, to do new things and take risks, rather than just standing still, so that people come here not just for the history, but contemporary things as well.
“We do have a unique skyline. That is not to say it is set in aspic for all time and we can’t have new buildings that pierce the skyline if they’re appropriate.
“Some people have a mentality that the skyline should never, ever be changed – I don’t subscribe to that at all.”