Bauman Lyons Architects office and garden in Chapeltown, Leeds
The M62 is a glorious structure and people will always tell you that it is the highest motorway in Britain as it cuts through the Pennines between Leeds and Manchester. It is an amazing feat of engineering, akin to the great wall of China, possibly it can be admired from space – 107 miles of beautiful asphalt that took huge commitment to build against terrible weather conditions, boggy peat and rock strata. When I am the sole survivor of the apocalypse this (and Angel of the North) will be one of the first things I shall go to, to see if it is still standing, with its lines of derelict army tanks.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/678881[/vimeo]
The M62 crosses the countryside in an uncompromising manor, whisking you (ish) from Liverpool to Hull, in no time at all if you are very lucky. I wish they would use Will Alsop’s crazy super city plan and build a monorail above the middle, which would reduce the journey time to a mater of minutes. Between Leeds and Manchester there is a legendary split in the motorway betwix the eastbound and westbound carriages. The land in the middle is occupied by Stott Hall farm – apparently for geological and topographical reasons, not because the farmer wouldn’t sell. It is undoubtedly one of the best known sites in the North, and would make a fantastic place to buy an over priced sandwich. I highly recommend the wikipedia entry on the M62, it has been meticulously edited with great history, details of key dates and extensions. It has a huge library of links. This level of amateur dedication to a stretch of motorway is surely worth noting.
If you enter Leeds on the M62 making your way onto its little brother, the M621, and then into the city centre you pass under the railway bridges, a huge expanse of Victorian tunnel known as Neville Street, (or more appropriately: Dark Neville Street). This will be the site for a massive art and design work by German artist Hans Peter Kuhn, Bauman Lyons Architects and Andy Edwards Design. As well as a technical design solution to the problems of overcrowded pavements, wind, traffic noise and light, it will be a daily changing light installation that is testament to the 15000 visitors that use the tunnel on foot every day. It has not been installed yet (Nov 08), so we met with Irena Bauman of Bauman Lyons Architects at her Chapeltown based office in Leeds and asked her about the Light and Sound Transit and her general approach to designing buildings. By the way Bauman Lyons architects have a rule that they don’t work on a job unless it is only 2 hours from their office, just as well they built that M62.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/679825[/vimeo]
Video interview with Irena Bauman uploaded soon
Hi – I’ll try to keep this short….I produce and present the overnight programme on BBC Radio Newcastle, am fascinated with your project and would VERY MUCH like to feature your expedition on my programme (unless, of course, one of my ‘higher-profile’ daytime colleagues have bagged you first!). Would you be up for a pre-recorded chat with me some time soon?
A Yes or No indication would do for now. If it’s Yes – - how can I contact you?
Good luck
IAN ROBINSON
You may be interested to know that, for reasons not dissimilar to your own on this project (a journey to unearth the North’s hidden treasures) I walked from Hull back home to Liverpool last autumn, spending time with local people in the cities and large towns en-route, publishing a book afterwards, a diary of the walk, called Walking the M62…