Victorian Brick and Modernist Facade, Manchester City Centre

8 October 2019 · Manchester

A curved Victorian red-brick corner building meets a white perforated-panel modernist block at street level in central Manchester. The warm terracotta of the old masonry and the cool geometric screen of the new facade sit directly against each other, with tram overhead lines threading the gap between them. The decorative swirl pattern on the upper cladding holds the sky behind it — ornament that earns its place by making the building look like it belongs here as much as the one it replaced.