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Okay, so its not exactly bursting with personality - in fact its designed in that minimal clinical Scandinavian flatpack style - but once you step into West8s new city square you can’t help but appreciate the feeling of openness and freedom it has.
West8 like to create versatile spaces that are open to interpretation - that is, there is no fixed use or anything to dictate to people the way they should behave. A round of applause please!
They seem to do this by designing strictly in two dimensions. Here, metal strips run across the expanse of grass. No doubt they form a pattern when seen from above, and the square can be viewed from the rooftop of the Mima building. But as this isn’t the way the square will be viewed most of the time that is irrelevent. The effect from the ground is curious, as though someone has scribbled over the grass. Sometimes people follow the lines, most of the time they ignore them. Strange.
At the far end some Art in the Public Realm has been added in order to give the place some ‘instant personality’ but it doesnt work, because lets face it, Art in the Public Realm sucks for the most part. I guess concept based art can be sterile and unimaginative enough without being put through the commitee process.
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