Architect condemns new college Designs
THE ARCHITECT WHO designed the Bleachfield houses in the sixties has condemned the University’s plans to demolish the site, branding them as “poor”, “dull” and “unimaginative”.
David Crease, whose plans for Bleachfield won an architectural award in 1968, is furious that 22 houses have been boarded up, fenced off and are being prepared for demolition, because they were originally designed to be extended and would meet the additional housing demands the University has.
However, the University’s drive to demolish and rebuild has continued unabated with plans to build 4-storey blocks along the same design scheme as the rest of the new campus accommodation. This would destroy the architectural merit of the present site at a much greater financial cost.
Nouse can exclusively reveal that these plans are in a shambles, with amendments to the designs by the University suggesting that all of Bleachfield would be torn down in favour of redevelopment, not half as in the plans submitted to the Council.
The designs have been described by Crease as “unimaginative and pedestrian”. He said: “The proposed blocks are disposed in a random fashion. The space between is chaotic, incoherent and shapeless. The quality of the design is poor.
He continued: “Both the University and government have declared their aim to secure good design. That can not be done by pulling down buildings of recognised design quality and replacing them with inferior ones, nor by destroying exterior spaces of positive character.”
Several leading architectural authorities have been quick to voice their concerns over the University’s approach to Bleachfield.
Prof. Douglas Wise OBE, who taught at the University of York between 1975-92, said: “I would regard it as a great pity if the scheme was now to be emasculated by the University. Something of great value would be destroyed, particularly by an organisation purporting to maintain cultural standards.”
Prof. Ian Colquhoun, from the Hull School of Architecture, explained that the choice of external materials with contrasting black and white low-rise housing has had a great influence on architects at the time searching for alternatives to the bland finishes of concrete high-rise developments.
He said: “A further innovation was the way in which the grouping of the houses relate to the shape of the ground and the existing landscape. The long white screen walls are an important part of this. The result is a composition of buildings in landscape that has rarely been matched.”
The University has yet to take any action on this site, and plans are still being worked and reworked. However, with student accommodation overflowing across campus, 22 houses stand boarded up and empty, accessible only to weeds, squirrels and pigeons.
