Latest Greengate Designs Shown Off

Developer, BSC, have shown off their latest designs for a development at the Greengate site in Manchester. Previously the location of a planned 200 metre tall residential tower, also developed by BSC, the site has seen a rapid evolution of the design ethos applied to it having gone from futuristic to modern with their architects, Arca. The new plans are for a 40 floor residential tower, rectangular in shape with a + floor plan that will be topped by a couple of duplex penthouse floors. Next door will be a similar 25 floor tower sharing the same sort of design. Along with the lower rise podium they will contain a total of 440 flats plus a 250 room hotel.The monolithic mass is broken up by the indented corners that at different times of day will play with shadows but also help to narrow the appearance of it even more. The white edges are either clad in light stone or concrete and constrast with the main body of the tower that is brought to life by the seemingly random cladding that covers the windows, a trick architects in Manchester have fallen in love with thanks to Ian Simpson's Beetham influence.The whole development is set around a courtyard that has to deal with heavily sloping ground meaning that ground level at one end is double height compared to the other and has overlapping floor levels to solve this problem. As well as this new public square, complete with the usual cafes the site is also shared by the old Market Square of Salford which will also remain unbuilt on.Of course there is also a risk it could end up looking like a council block in Glasgow, something that will be highly dependent on the quality of the finish that the project utilises although even if this is done to the top level the sheer lack of curves is unlikely to please everyone. It is however a design approach that is similar to the successful towers in Rotterdam such as Montevideo and with Manchester's desires to turn itself into a fashionable European city perhaps BSC are pointing the right way with this one.Now all they have to do is build the damn thing, and we don't mean dig a big hole.