An elevated highway – as one of Manchesterʼs strangest and most compelling modernist beauties – received the Concrete Society Award in 1968 and is recommended for an outing by the Manchester Modernist Society on their website: “At first sight this might seem an odd, even perverse choice, a mistake perhaps. Have we gone too far with this adoration of the brutal, this ugly ode to the car, all-around pollutant and bête noir of the green lobby, destroyer of much of central Manchester’s original pre-loft dwelling citizenry?” This is a strange creature, its engineered details and structure show sophistication and extend their peculiar aesthetics to the large sunken traffic islands under the belly of the beast, all provided with bike and pedestrians tube-like subways. These are concrete gardens, savage and rough, habitats to wild animals and plants.
AG3 includes an interview with Richard Brook, Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Architecture, member of the Manchester Modernist Society, and contributor to their magazine “The Modernist”.
