Piccadilly Gardens Fountain, Manchester City Centre

14 October 2019 · Manchester

Water jets at Piccadilly Gardens push straight up against a sky that can't decide whether to open. Behind them, the Mercure Hotel block sits flat and horizontal while the concrete tower to its right climbs out of frame — two scales of brutalism bookending the same plaza. The fountain gives the foreground a kinetic restlessness; the architecture gives it weight. Neither yields to the other.