John Glenday: Green challenge of Red Square proportions

“YOU can’t see the wood for the trees” is a phrase readily applied to tycoon Sir Ian Wood, who has put Aberdeen City Council over an (oil) barrel in a dogged pursuit of his personal vision for a new city garden – at the expense of a fully funded alternative, Brisac Gonzalez’s Architects Peacock Visual Arts Centre.

Aberdeen’s green square will be equivalent in scale to Moscow’s Red Square, presenting a dilemma for the six superstar architects who have dreamt up half a dozen very different solutions for carving out a dramatic new public space from the existing terraced gardens and adjacent Denburn road and rail corridor.

Of the schemes presented it is Team 1’s which stands out, a delicate cobweb of granite pathways effectively breaking down the cavernous volume of the space to allow light in and views out – an echo of the changes in level which make the existing terraces such an exhilarating urban set piece.

Team 2’s submission may incorporate a picture-postcard, snowbound imagery but its sunken amphitheatre offers little of the zest which the existing terracing can command, its organic bulbous winter garden offering a sub-Eden Project solution to the site.

Team 5 opts for a technically impressive solution which sees natural heating and ventilation, making for a green solution in every sense of the word. It is one which fails to get the pulse racing with visual flair, however.

Team 6 offers the most architectural solution, a striking granite cultural centre which promises to dominate the park environs with what has already been likened to a Star Trek “Borg” cube.

Perhaps we should be looking again at Gonzalez’s seventh offering. Why isn’t that scheme on the table to make for a truly democratic competition?

• John Glenday is Editor of Urban Realm magazine