[Discuss] No trees and ugly buildings. Histon Road/Victoria Road Junction. Planning application

[Anne Garvey]

Absolutely. Let us try and influence this design in that direction , trees
are not expensive . We must begin to push back against this brutalist design
trend.

Well done Alan as ever, let us know what we might get up and do.

Suggest modifications to planning committee, attend the meeting?


On 20/10/10 23:42, "Allan Brigham" <townnotgown at btinternet.com> wrote:

> For info..
>  
>  
> The former garage at the junction of Histon and Huntingdon Road may be the
> ugliest site in Cambridge. But the proposed student housing that is going to
> replace it doesn¹t look much better ( News and Crier.30.9.2010). There is
> certainly nothing distinctive about it that says Œthis is Cambridge, city of
> beautiful buildings and parks¹. It looks more like any recent building in
> Manchester, London or Leeds.
>  
> The one redeeming feature of the existing site is that the building line is
> set well back from the road, and that the garage is a low rise building. This
> gives a liberating sense of space as you leave or approach the city centre.
>  
> The new flats loom above the road and it is difficult to imagine anyone is
> going to want to live there unless they have no alternative. With all the
> noise and fumes from the cars stopping and starting at the traffic lights it
> is certainly difficult to believe residents  would ever want to open their
> windows to let in fresh air.
>  
> Wouldn¹t it be nice to see  the building line for the new building kept well
> back from the pavement, with attractive planting that would alleviate the
> depressingly urban and intimidating feel of this junction ? The three rather
> sad  trees shown in the architect¹s illustration  are no more than token
> gestures to greening this landmark site and ensuring that Cambridge really
> does feel like a green city.
>  
> Until now the office block across the road from the garage ranked as one of
> the most disappointing uses of a prime site in the city. Let¹s come up with
> something much better here.
>  
>  
>  
>  
> 
> 
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