Architecture of city is highlighted at model exhibition

Feb 18 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

THE fortress at the historic heart of Newcastle has taken a model approach to telling the story of how the city evolved.

A dozen hand-crafted models of buildings from the Roman to the modern now take pride of place in the Great Hall of the Castle Keep, which attracts around 28,000 visitors a year.

The models were made by a city council team in the late 1970s for an exhibition at the historic Blackfriars complex.

They remained there until they were spotted by Keep administrator Tony Ball.

He said: “The models are fantastic and a lot of effort has gone into them. They are quite stunning and have a certain wow factor.

“They are a 3D representation of the history and chronology of Newcastle and will be particularly attractive to school groups.

“At Blackfriars they were not readily accessible for the public but now they are a focal point of the Keep.”

Accompanying each model are samples of the materials which would have been used in the construction of the buildings they represent.

The models are:

Roman: West Denton Turret.

Medieval: Castle Keep chapel.

Tudor: Bessie Surtees House.

Stuart: Keelmen’s Hospital.

Georgian: Assembly rooms.

Regency: Summerhill Square and Ayton warehouse, Pandon.

Tyneside Classical: Grey Street.

Victorian engineering: High Level Bridge.

Gothic Revival: Neville Hall, Westgate Road.

19th Century: Tyneside flats, Benwell.

Inter-war: Co-op department store, Newgate Street.

Modern: MEA House.

By contrast, a range of models of buildings currently on show as part of an exhibition on post-war architecture in the North East have been created by machine.

The £30,000 3D zcorp machine has been acquired by Northumbria University’s School of the Built Environment.

Paul Jones, the school’s director of architecture programmes, said the machine meant the beginning of the end for hand-making of models.

The models were constructed by creating a virtual model on computer and then using specialist software to transfer this data to the zcorp machine, which uses injected glue and powder to build up in layers a 3D physical model.

“The machine prints in colour, but because of the nature of the modernist architecture in the exhibition, we printed everything white,” said Paul.

The Reinvigorating the Region exhibition at the historic Stephenson Works off Forth Street runs until February 27. It is organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects North East and charts the development of architecture in the North East between 1945 and 1989. Featuring built and unbuilt works by architects including Ryder and Yates, Ove Arup, Faulkner Brown and the Owen Luder Partnership, it showcases the buildings and the people that placed the North East at the forefront of the modernist movement in UK architecture.

The exhibition is funded by English Heritage and has also been backed by Formica, Northumbria University, Ryder Architecture, Silverlink Holdings and Home Group.

Buildings featured in the exhibition include Newcastle, Sunderland Chester-le-Street civic centres, and in Newcastle MEA House, Byker Wall, Kenton Bar housing estate, Montagu Court, the 1960s Newcastle city centre library and Jesmond library, and Lightfoot Centre.

Also featured are the Engine Research Station and Norgas House Killingworth; Felling swimming baths, the Derwent Tower and Trinity Square in Gateshead, Dunelm House and Kingsgate Bridge, Durham and the Apollo Pavilion in Peterlee. Jon Jo MacNamara, director of RIBA North East, said: “The exhibition celebrates the North East’s immediate architectural past whilst reflecting upon our contribution to Britain’s architectural heritage”.