Multiplicity Birmingham
Steve Rabone
Introduction Our cities are full of buildings and giant structures that create the fabric of our urban lives. Yet for many visitors, commuters and city dwellers they do no more than cast dark shadows, that stretch across the streets as they continue with their lives. Their heads down, oblivious to the architecture all around them. I want to give people the chance to look up and see this architecture. Over the centuries buildings have evolved, with new construction techniques and materials used and yet there are still many recurring patterns and themes that run through this evolution. Multiplicity is a series of twelve motifs, each one created by looking up at an iconic Birmingham building, but then mutliplying it to develop a fresh way of seeing it and its repeating patterns. Each building has its own style, each one built in a different era, and yet they all share the common theme that they were made by man. Each one starting life as a construction site. Therefore each motif is accompanied by words that aim to take you back to the time they were built. To bring to life all of the senses of that time, as the foundations were set for these twelve landmarks of Birmingham.
“Architecture should speak of its time and place but yearn for timelessness” Frank Gehry
“ When the clutter of construction work ceases, and the shouting of workers dies away, a building becomes a museum of a waiting patient silence” Juhani Pallasmaa
The Twelve
The air, a toxic stench of cattle waste, sawdust and human sweat, hung over him. His hands, calloused and blistered, took some short relief as he pressed the rotting animal dung into the wet soil and clay mixture. The heavy sticky material was pressed into the woven lattice of local timber as the building began to take shape.
SE 30591 19253 52° 28’ 30” N 1° 52’ 52” W
The smoke billowed out from the bricklayer’s kiln as the stonemason continued to carve another pediment. As he paused, to brush away the loose stone, his attention was drawn to the sheer scale of their work. Through the dust and smoke his eyes moved skywards above the heads of the bricklayers and the plasterers. His heart skipped a beat as he uttered, “today we build a church, but one day you will be a Cathedral”
SP 06945 87032 52° 28’ 52” N 1° 53’ 57” W
As he pressed his last ashlar stone into place, the round arched doorway was complete. Standing back to admire his work, he heard the crashing sound of metal on rock. Pick axes and shovels digging into the earth. The gang of navvies, working tirelessly on the railway, were finally getting close to their destination. Their slow progress, a mere prelude to the much swifter arrival of the steam trains that would come from London. The disembarking passengers would walk directly where he stood.
SP 07785 87094 52° 28’ 54” N 1° 53’ 12” W
Clutching his rosary, the carpenter made his way through the cobbled and tightly packed streets. Surrounded by the factories and workshops of the Gun Quarter, he was overcome with wonder as the twin spires emerged on the skyline ahead. His heart ached for the day when he would return not as a labourer, but as a father and husband to celebrate mass within this Gothic inspired Cathedral. When the acrid smells of the building site would be long forgotten and replaced by the sweet aroma of incense.
SP 07006 87535 52° 29’ 8” N 1° 53’ 53” W
Looking up, he lost sight of the blue cloudless sky. The tension was palpable as the final pieces of the iron domed roof were slotted into place. Shouts and orders vibrated around the hollow dome as grown men vented their frustrations and anxieties in equal measure. The arguments showed no sign of abating, and would no doubt be replaced by the similar exasperations of the council leaders once they took up residence in this palatial building.
SP06610 86986 52° 28’ 50” N 1° 54’ 14” W
The golden glow of the setting sun increased the intensity of the local orange-red brick, the building already a fiery contrast to the classic stone neighbours. He continued the slow repetitive process of laying the bricks, the scrape of his trowel against the gritty mortar. As the light began to fade into the twilight hour, a single gas light illuminated J H Chamberlain’s final drawings. The intricate designs and rich decorations ready to inspire the artists soon to inhabit this impressive structure .
SP 06667 87022 52° 28’ 51” N 1° 54’ 11” W
The sculptor nervously looked on, as his bronze seated figure was carefully lifted in to place. Its position resting against one of eight sides to this stone monument. As he peered into the darkness of the entrance, towards the central shrine, he caught the sound of gunfire and screams. A cold chill spread across him, as he realised these were the echoes of the fallen now being remembered in this place.
SP 06139 86591 52° 28’ 38” N 1° 54’ 39” W
An eerie silence descended across the site, as the growling roar of the traffic below came to a halt. Standing on the springy, wooden beam of the scaffold tower he continued to bolt the iron balustrade into the edge of the building, but remained unnerved by the sudden quiet. The line of workers seemed to share his concern as their side ways glances and questioning looks confirmed something was not right. However the silence was suddenly broken with an eruption of cheers, as the newly crowned Queen and her Duke came into view.
SP 06845 86868 52° 28’ 46” N 1° 54’ 2” W
The rough brutal concrete had long since set but as he ran his hand across the sharp edges of the exterior wall he remained intimidated by the buildings sheer presence. A gap in the concrete had been cut through for him, and he now began to connect the web of wires and bring much needed power to this monster from another time. As the rattle and drone of the passing trains increased he knew that whether the building would be considered ugly or beautiful in the future, it’s importance would never be denied. It would be the gateway to the city’s continued expansion.
SP 07024 86641 52° 28’ 39” N 1° 53’ 52” W
The transistor radio crackled back into life as the four lads from Liverpool’s new hit started to play. With everyone’s attention being drawn to the music he moved to the far side of the bare office space and looked out through a gap in the concrete pillars. From the twenty fourth floor of this cylindrical building there was much to see. Standing tall on its own podium, it was in the heart of the city’s retail district. Dwarfing the nearby churches and cathedrals, the message was clear, all hail the new religion of shopping.
SP 07168 86724 52° 28’ 42” N 1° 53’ 45” W
He smiled to himself as he reapplied the sling across the heavy steel fretwork laid out on the flat bed lorry. As a teenager less than two decades before his parents had poured scorn on his unhealthy obsession with video games and his lack of career opportunities. Yet here he was, the site foreman, about to slot this giant piece of steel work into place. The irony not lost on him as the irregular shapes meant he was about to play his greatest ever game of Tetris.
SP 06413 86329 52° 28’ 29” N 1° 54’ 25” W
As the howling wind echoed through the cranes cabin, perched high above the city skyline, she began to manoeuvre the last of the concrete slabs into place. The weight shifting as the trolley and pulley moved back out across the jib. Every bolt and rivet creaking under the pressure. As she looked down at the empty street beneath, a foreboding swept over her, for the pandemic that was about to engulf the world.
SP 06400 86600 52° 28’ 40” N 1° 54’ 21” W
The Twelve
Words & Images by Steve Rabone