What will the City of London look like after Covid-19? That’s what everyone wants to know… and plenty of people have already shared their views with EG. Now, architects and designers from Perkins&Will’s international studios have had a go, reimagining the Square Mile for the post-pandemic age in a design concept competition.
It will likely not come as a surprise to learn that the winning entries saw key sites “transformed into healthier, more sustainable, and inclusive places”. A scheme named “Mudlarking: Restoring Riparian Corridors to The City” took first prize, with a vision that focuses on “reviving ancient waterway systems to create resilient urban environments and diverse living systems”. Second-placed “Lanterns of Hope” creates a new mixed-use development that adds a “sense of playfulness” to the capital’s commercial district, while “Convivo”, in third, takes on the “interior scale challenge located within the Barbican” with a concept that “brings people from all walks of life together, encouraging interactions by providing a space for exchanging knowledge, compassion, and company”.
Check out all the entries at http://dlc.perkinswill.com/ and daydream how your working environment might look a few years down the line.
Blessed are the cheesemakers
Diary does like a nice margherita, so we have to thank Dairy Partners – a British dairy company manufacturing mozzarella and pizza cheese products for customers globally – for its service, helping to deliver slices of happiness around the world. So congratulations from Diary to Dairy for selecting Pentadel Project Management to design and deliver the firm’s (cheddar) gorge-ous new £15m headquarters near Stroud in Gloucestershire. No doubt chosen caerphilly, Pentadel’s all-female design team is definitely a gouda choice – not least because its “people, environment and community-centred approach” is el-emmental to the scheme. It’s an innovative building that will “provide a healthy, happy workplace for more than 100 Dairy Partners employees” – and, if you don’t like it, hard cheddar.
Don’t take the Mc
You would think public bodies would be wary of doing this by now after, well, you know what, but Cheshire West and Chester Council is throwing the naming of a new square and arcade for Chester Northgate open to the public. Even Diary is going to refrain from making the gag you’re all expecting, it’s been done to death by now… but we bet there will still be plenty of jokers out there offering a predictable spin on a familiar formula.
At least the organisers are wise to the problem, as a panel of councillors and city centre stakeholders will “review” the suggestions – we bet they will. A shortlist of names will be put to a final public vote later this summer and, if you’re thinking of giving it a whirl, there is some food for thought on offer.
The square sits above what was once one of the largest Roman fortresses in Britain, while other heritage inspiration may come from such previous uses as Saxon houses, Viking jewellery makers, medieval streets and, most recently, the former Town Hall bus station. Maybe you can tie in with the new brand for the Northgate scheme, influenced by the distinctive architecture of the “imposing three arches” that frame the main entrance façade: “The letter ‘n’ motif draws the eye in and uses perspective to illustrate the arcade within. Meanwhile, the colour palette is drawn from the sandstone from which many of Chester’s historic landmarks and city walls were built.” So why not give the name game a whirl – who knows, maybe your suggestion will float the judges’ McBoatface (and we were doing so well).
Right in the eels
The John Forbes Consulting newsletter is always welcome in our inbox, and the latest offering rewarded those of us who made it all the way to the end with a bit of a history lesson. Apparently, Jamie Bullen from Blackstock PR had been craving info on the “medieval practice of paying rent in eels” and writer Helen Forbes clearly does not like to disappoint, delivering more than 500 words on the topic, including “matters of pandemic and Brexit relevance, as well as the importance of the use of eels by monks to reduce sexual urges”.
We cannot, alas, find space to go into full detail here, but suffice to say the practice of paying rents and taxes in kind has a long history, and eels were a particularly attractive currency for two reasons. First, “the eels concerned had been dried so would be long-lasting” and, second, the aforementioned effect they were believed to have on libido. “The sexual urge-suppressing feature of eels was highly desirable during Lent when people were supposed to avoid hanky-panky and for the clergy who were supposed to avoid it more generally,” we are told.
Alas, after the Black Death, the lure of cold, hard cash took precedence over eels. All very educational, but our favourite bit is the sign-off at Bullen’s expense: “We hope that you now feel better educated on both the use of eels for rent payment and why your wife keeps feeding you eels for your dinner.”
Contact diary@egi.co.uk
