A Small Tragedy

I received a call on Friday to say that the Clayton Square models had been thrown away. Renovation work in the management office of the centre had been going on, and despite clear instructions from the Big Screen Manager that the models were not to be touched, it seems the Centre Manager allowed builders to trash them in the skip. I felt really shocked to hear this and very sad. That the models could be around and ignored for so long and then just when someone begins to take an interest in them they are thrown away seems cruel fate.

Apparently some parts of the model were salvaged from the skip by the Big Screen Manager, so we may still have something to work with, but this event itself seems to say something about the value and importance (or lack of) these models as the city develops. I don't know the ins and outs and whys and wherefors of all of this, but I hope to open a dialogue with the manager to find out some of the reasons behind their creation and destruction.

R.I.P Clayton Square

Modulor

A fantastic shop on Geneisau Strasse in Berlin that sells model-making materials. Its not a huge shop, though the things it sells are pretty small too of course. I recoginsed the types of materials on sale from models I have seen already and realised that in some way, the supplier is a factor in shaping the look (and emotion) of a model, through the range they have on offer. This is especially the case with people, who come in white plastic, silver metal, or painted colourful plastic. Though strangely, these always depict white middle class people, and everyone is smiling. No fat people, no women in burkhas, no one made of wood, no-one crying, puking, angry, fighting or wandering despondently. I wondered whether a more reduced / abstract approach might be used ever, like with the simple trees on the Berlin Stadt Modell - maybe matchsticks, pins, skittles...

Modulor Website

Model Couple

I had heard tales that within model making circles there were certain secret things that were traditionally included in a new model, such as couples having sex, or a man carrying his own head, or even a miniature Winston Churchill. I thought it was just urban myth, like those tales about Disney animators writing 'sex' in the clouds in the Lion King. But then a model-making friend showed me this gem...

Das Berlin Stadt Modell pt 3

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Excerpt from the Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung leaflet:

"A permanent exhibition of the Senate Department for Urban development presents four models and a host of plans on the development of Berlin's inner city district.
- The 1:1000 model depicts large projects in the inner-city urban context.
- The 1:500 model shows the impact of single buildings on their direct neighbourhood.
- The virtual 3D model simulates the planned Berlin on all scales.

...The 1:500 model focuses on Berlin's historical centre. It goes so far as to show details of facades that were designed over the past ten years or finished buildings, as well as the latest planning., for instance the Inner-City Plan. One centimetre in the model corresponds to five metres in reality."

Das Berlin Stadt Modell pt 2

Accompanying the main Berlin model is another piece, a CAD design 1:1000 plan - 'das virtuelle 3D-Modell', displayed alongside a more colorful installation, a 1989 modell of the city centre. The 1989 model has again a very particular look, and a high level of detail in certain respects - vast apartment blocks show every window, and trees are more life-like. The colours again help to define older and newer parts of the town, with some bold use of blue and red on newer blocks. The plastic materials used give this more of a toy town feeling. Once again, there are no people or transport, which makes me think this is not trying to promote a lifestyle, but capture a vision of the architecture, old alongside new. Its fairly kitsch in a way, as if the whole thing has been made using models bought from a tourist shop, or like a piece made by Jeff Koons.

Stadtentwicklung Berlin Website

Das Berlin Stadt Modell pt 1

Today I visited the fantastic Berliner Stadt Modelle, a 1:500 scale model of the city. It was especially brilliant to see this just days after seeing the Liverpool city centre model, again in 1:500 scale. This put into perspective just how big Berlin is, taking up a whole room. A separate, and perhaps even larger wall-mounted model of the city at 1:1000 scale was sadly absent, away in Cannes, though the purpose of this absence was not clear.

The model itself is predominantly white, using a similar level of detail on these parts as the Liverpool model. Again, newer additions to the city are rendered differently, though this time in wood, with a greater level of detail. Two more striking aspects of the model (apart from its enormous size) are the absence of any cars or people, and the trees, a simplified and charming design which reminds me of animations for children.

It is worth noting that the Berlin model has its own dedicated space and surrounding exhibitions of town plans throughout the last century. Staff are also on hand to answer questions for the public, and when I arrived there seemed to be a small guided tour taking place. I have started to think more about where and how these models are exhibited and how this has an impact on their purpose and who gets to see them.

Play Make Do

My friends Ruth and Sven are professional model makers. They made this model town for a bit of fun one night. Again though it has a openness of vision and a sense of fun and play that really appeals to the imagination, and reclaims things back from the realms of 'the expert' and back in the hands of those with their own vision and playfulness.

The Emotional City

Kingelez's models nailed home an important point for me about the way all models set themselves somewhere on the spectrum from cool and practical to emotionally involving and perhaps even irrational. Its achieved through scale, materials, shapes, the level of detail, naturalism, and its 'inhabitants'. They all want you to perceive them with a certain level of emotional engagement, or perhaps maybe a through an adopted lens of cool detachment, as if the reality will somehow be so emotionally un-involving. This spectrum is not such a straight line, more of a soup, and in the case of the models in Liverpool, even the most restrained, functional models have some aspect of emotional stimulation.

Most often these are utopian pleasures of space, cleanliness, freedom, technology, future lifestyles. There is a huge impact simply in the scale and display of these models, that allows us to feel god-like. Of course the reality of these large buildings is often somewhat more imposing. A lot is communicated through colour and materials. Some of these decisions are really odd and make me question whether these models are primarily functional or emotional. Why are all the people and cars silver, even on the wooden model of Liverpool One? The wood itself seems rustic, like a medieval metropolis. Has any city been built of wood since the great fire of London?

I like the 'functional' models a lot, but i find it really interesting when models are presented with an overt emotional association. I am somehow less suspicious of these. I love Kingelez's models because they are so unabashedly fun and happy. They are honestly about their subjectivity and therefore they cannot be mistaken as 'truth'.

The Playful City - Bodys Isek Kingelez

A friend showed me some photos of work by an artist called Bodys Isek Kingelez. He makes models of his visions of cities, including his hometown Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These models are visions of the future: a mixture of existing architecture and new subjective ideas about what is possible. Although the shapes, colours and scale of the architecture all seems fantastic, the materials used (bottle caps, corrugated cardboard and tinfoil) are from our own world.

The primary colours, curvy shapes and slides, stripes and spots, are a world away from the restrained, grey models that have formed the bulk of my research in Liverpool so far. Are these models for kids? I think children would appreciate them though that's not to say they wouldn't prefer the model of Liverpool city Centre in the Central Library. In anycase, the model represents a very different kind of vision, and perhaps for a different audience. Is Kingelez actually proposing that the buildings would be these strange colours, or even the same shape? They might seem ridiculous but in some ways it is no more ridiculous than the Liverpool One model; buildings that in reality will be made from metal and glass, here rendered in wood, a strangely nostalgic vision of the future. Kingelez models are ridiculous and fantastic in a way that encourages you to enjoy his personal vision and then think about your own vision, "what if...".

Bodys Isek Kingelez profile on Culturebase

Liverpool Models - City Centre

This model is now on display in Central Library. Below is the text that accompanies the display:

"Originally constructed between 1961 and 1994, The Liverpool City Centre Model was a unique and valuable tool for the city's planning development. During this time, a dedicated model-making team - led by Ron Palmer and based at Wilberforce house - created an astoundingly detailed 1:500 scale model of the city centre.

In 2003, after a lengthy period of storage, Liverpool Vision and Liverpool City Council commissioned local model makers Studioscope (formerly Static Models & Design) to begin the lengthy process of updating and refurbishing the models.

Modern model-making techniques differ from those used in the 1960's, with resins replacing wood and computer controlled cutting direct from Ordnance Survey data replacing hand-drawn mapping. However, the end result remains the same - superbly crafted hand-made miniature versions of all the buildings forming our world famous city.

The model is now, once again, an important asset for Liverpool and is helping to guide its regeneration. The refurbished model provides the opportunity for developers and architects to add their plans in a unique 3D environment. Proposed new buildings are inserted into the model to test their impact on the ever-changing city centre and their relationship to the existing streetscape.

Throughout 2006, the model was displayed at the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo headquarters on Old Hall Street - the first time it had been on public display for 10 years. It allowed local people the chance to see the dramatic and positive changes that have taken place in the city centre since it was last on public display in 1996.

New schemes are being added all the time as modern office, retail, leisure and residential developments transform the city centre. The blocks coloured yellow represent some of the major new buildings and schemes that either have planning consent, are still under construction or recently completed.

Now the model has found a permanent home. Liverpool City Libraries has agreed to display the model so that it can be enjoyed by residents, businesses and organisations passionate about the regeneration of Liverpool city centre."