URBAN ARCHITECTURE: AN IMPORTANT FACTOR WITHIN URBAN SPACES 

"History is an inseparable part of the environment, living on as physical traces of the distant past" -Aylin Orbasli 

The urban environment is expanding rapidly, and with it comes a change in the architectural design of cities. No longer do we want to see our cities filled with Victorian style buildings, but instead we want to see our urban space fill with tall glass buildings with more modern and extravagant designs. This can be seen in many urban environments around the world and is very prominent in Port of Spain. Our historic and cultural buildings are being forgotten or worse torn down to make way for new massive modern structures (for example of NAPA). While this is a prominent view in today's cities, there is also a view of conservation of our national heritage. Some urban environments incorporate the old architecture of a city with new and improved designs so as to keep the meaning of some of these buildings .These building not only contain beauty but also have some sort of meaning attached to them. According to Hall and Barrett, conserving the past is a long tradition, involving the desire to preserve particular monuments and buildings within a country. Therefore, buildings that have strong meaning to society be it historical or cultural values, these buildings would be given priority for conservation. Aylin.Orbasli stated that history resides in the urban form and what we see today are not only relics of the past but is part of the cultural identity of the citizens of a city and conservation of these artefacts promotes cultural identity of the urban space which in turn as many advantages such as tourism. Development and expansion of the urban environment is an on going process and meaningful buildings will be threaten due to this development, however the goal should not be to keep the city in a Victorian style or eradicate all the historic buildings, but it should be to find a way to incorporate the new and the old to make an efficient urban area while still keeping as much history and culture of the landscape in the architecture of the city.   

Since  this blog an assignment was for a geography course, GEOG 2007 :Urban Geography, there are some interesting blogs that can be linked to urban architecture but at a different point of view to mine:

Khadija Stewart : http://negativeurbanisation.blogspot.com/
Her blog dealt with the negative side of urbanisation. This is a very interesting and can relate to the architecture of the city. For example the blog entry " The Dark Side Of Urbanisation-Loss of Culture" depicted a major problem in cities of the global south. Our cultural landscape along with the richness of our architectural designs are becoming lost due to the shift of architecture. Our local heritage is being replaced by values of international cities.  

Alyssa Black : http://city-vibez.blogspot.com/
Her blog was basically about the different aspects of the city and how they are influenced by culture. I especially liked her entry of street vendors as this shows a different view of architecture to me. It doesn't depict that of a building but it shows the design at street level. People shape the urban environment and it is apparent in that entry, these street vendors shape the streets of Port of Spain and give it a unique architectural design filled with culture.  

Lucia Edwards : http://rushhourtrini.blogspot.com/
Her blog shows different architectural beauty of building in the urban environment. I really liked her entry on the combination of the old and modern building of the library. I did an entry on the same building myself and I really liked how past and modern designs are incorporated in a beautiful way to show that our city is modern yet full of national heritage.   

Port of Spain, from away can look either chaotic or beautiful depends on the person. However walking the streets of Port of Spain is a completely different experience. Only when you take a work through the busy streets of Port of Spain do you recognise the diversity in the architectural designs of the urban environment. Port of Spain is not only filled with modern buildings but buildings that represent our culture and heritage and these buildings should be conserved and preserved for future generations and also to promote our cultural identity amidst the ever changing urban world.   

HISTORICAL  BUILDINGS IN AN URBAN SETTING... 

This building is one of the Magnificent Seven located around the Queen's Park Savannah known as White Hall. The White Hall comes with a lot of history attached to it and so is recognised as a cultural and historical artefact in the nation and is among seven very important cultural and historic buildings located in the same location. This building along with the others represent part of Trinbagonians cultural and should be kept in good condition as it is part of our national identity and showcase our culture. This building has been restored in the past and is continued to be conserved and preserved as a historic building as there is realization of the state to protect our national heritage. These building are conserved among the ever changing and increasingly modernised  city of Port of Spain thus showing the great importance of these buildings within the cityscape. 

Although there is great modernisation of the city's architecture these buildings can be considered historical buildings according to Tim Hall. According to Aylin Orbaslic history resides within urban form and is a very important architectural design within an urban area as it promotes the cultural of that city. These buildings should be restored and conserved as part of not only our history but part of our national identity and cultural. 

These links below show some information of the Magnificent Seven  and the conservation efforts being made and the White Hall:
http://www1.american.edu/dlublin/travel/trinidad2.htm
http://citizensforconservationtt.org/main/index.php/builtherit/magnificent-seven/125-white-hall-rosenweg
http://guardian.co.tt/news/2013-02-02/more-calls-action-magnificent-7

These links below show how historic cities are preserved sustainable and how historic building or artefacts can work in the urban world:
http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/urbanbuildings/urbanbuildings.htm
http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/26_2/sustainable.html



REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 
Orbasli, Aylin. Architectural Conservation. United Kingdom: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2008. Print

HISTORIC RESTORATION

This picture shows one of the Magnificent seven buildings located around the Queen's Park Savannah known as Stollmeyer's Castle. Once a magnificent building now stands a old and beaten down although the brick work and the architectural design gives the building an invincible appearance. The building is one of many historical buildings located around the Queen's Park Savannah. Something that is similar to all of these buildings is that these structures are deteriorating as the years pass. These buildings represent an important part of the nations history and should be conserved for future generations and also to showcase the historical artefacts of our nation. Currently, this need for conservation and restoration of our cultural artefacts has been realized by our heads and now work is being done to bring back this building and others like it to their former glory (see picture below). 

According to Tim Hall in Urban Geography, cultural and historic buildings  can be considered as cultural artefacts. According to Aylin Orbaslic historic buildings are an important part of the urban environment and conservation and preservation of these buildings promote national identity that stimulate tourism.  

These are some links showing some information on these historic building:
http://www1.american.edu/dlublin/travel/trinidad2.htm
http://citizensforconservationtt.org/main/index.php/builtherit/magnificent-seven/126-killarney-stollmeyers-castle


REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 
Orbasli, Aylin. Architectural Conservation. United Kingdom: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2008. Print 

A CHANGING SKYLINE!!!

The picture shows the spectacular building of the Waterfront in Port of Spain. The structures are huge in comparison to a lot of other buildings surrounding it. To me these structures represent strength and power while also representing a softer side such as beauty and warm. The buildings in the photo has a welcoming yet intimidating appearance to it. However these magnificent buildings were not always here as seen in the picture below. These buildings are just another addition to the ever changing skyline of Port of Spain. No longer is Port of Spain filled with small buildings clustered together and dominated by only two skyscrapers, the city is changing. Port of Spain now has numerous skyscrapers. Is this change a good thing?? does the change represent who we are as Trinbagonians?? Does it reflect our culture as a people or is it just another representation of our economic growth?? These questions emerged as I took the photo.  

Picture showing the area of the buildings on the waterfront. An empty skyline. Taken from http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=174328&page=4 

According to Tim Hall in Urban Geography, spectacular buildings much like the building on the waterfront represents the economic growth of a city and this is due to the increasing competitiveness of today's society. Thus it can be said based on Tim Hall's statement the these building of the waterfront show the economic growth of the country. Thus the architectural designs of these structures are not concerned with representing the culture of the citizen but with representing the growth within the city. This then brings to my thought, which one is more important? The need for architecture to represent economic growth of a place or for the representation of the culture of the people residing in the city. Is there is kind of balance to the issue? Can we represent our economic growth while still keeping our culture at the forefront of this development?

This forum is very interesting, it shows pictures of  the changing skyline of Port of Spain over the years and also of comments and views of this skyline: 
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=174328&page=4


REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 

NEW URBAN ARCHITECTURE! A GOOD CHANGE???

  The picture above shows the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA). This building is located in the heart of Port of Spain. NAPA can be seen as an extravagant structure because of its beauty and the details of the architecture. I personally find this building spectacular as I appreciate the different architectural approach as compared to the surrounding buildings. Not only is this building beautiful but the activities that this building hosts can be termed as beautiful as well. The structure showcases our culture through different activates like theatrical performances and art displaces just to name a few. While my view is a very positive on towards the building, there may be negative views as well. Some people may bring up the point that this building is not representative of Trinidadian culture but is of the culture and values of the Global North.  

According to Tim Hall in the book Urban Geography, this is an era of “competitive globalization” and with this era, come the need for cities to represent it’s economic development. Cities show the growth of the economic sector by constructing extravagant or spectacular buildings within the city. With this in mind, I can make the perception that this is what NAPA may represent within the city, just another extravagant and huge structure to showcase the economic development taking place within Trinidad and Tobago. NAPA is said to embody the national flower, the Chaconia. Is it representative of that?? Is this the injection of culture behind the building?? This is where the question of if this type of development in architecture is a good change or a bad change. NAPA is located around the Queens Park Savannah; this area is surrounded by many different historical buildings. Will buildings like NAPA encourage the destruction of the historical structure to give rise in a constantly developing nation?? Or will these historic buildings be preserved?? These are the issues that come to the surface with the rise development in a nation. And According to Aylin Orbaslic “‘Protectionism’ continues to draw opposition when it is seen as a barrier to development”.

This link below shows information on how contemporary buildings can be incorporated in a historic environment: 
 http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/26_2/contemporary.html

REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 

Orbasli, Aylin. Architectural Conservation. United Kingdom: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2008. Print 

RESTORATION OF CULTURAL ARTEFACTS

The picture above shows the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception . This church is very old and as meaning attached to it from numerous groups. This is a very old building and by the looks of it has age a whole lot and its showing. The building sits in the heart of  Port of Spain among the changing architecture of the other buildings. This building is a religious building and thus there are strong values and meanings attached to the building. Thus this building is a cultural artefact and should be preserved as it represents great value to the community. In the picture above it is seen that there are renovations taking place on the building, therefore this cultural artefact being attempted to be restored as it is understood that this building is important within the urban space and that it represents part of the urban culture or identity of Port of Spain.       
      According to Tim Hall in Urban Geography religious buildings were in great demand in historical civilization and these buildings should be preserved as these have strong meanings attached to them. According to Aylin Orbasli in the book Architectural Conservation, conservation of historic buildings can promote national identity and also stimulate tourism. These historic buildings once regenerated add value to the cultural heritage of the city space and gives the urban space a sense of identity or individualism. These historic buildings are seen as artefacts among the ever changing city landscape. 

Here are some sites highlighting the history of the building and shows restoration efforts in the attempt to save this historical building:
http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-112/saving-soul-city
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,129414.html

This site just shows some picture of the cathedral in its former glory:
http://english.cntv.cn/20120329/113765.shtml

Link showing restortion efforts elsewhere:
http://www.iarc.ie/exhibitions/previous-exhibitions/christ-church-restored-an-exhibition-marking-the-1870s-restoration-of-christ-church-cathedral-dublin/#&panel1-8


REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 
Orbasli, Aylin. Architectural Conservation. United Kingdom: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2008. Print 

URBAN ARCHITECTURAL "REGENERATION" :

                           A Good Idea?? 

This picture shows the national library of  Trinidad and Tobago better know as NALIS. The picture shows a very eerie view of this place. It almost looks uninviting or not approachable. However this view of the library is more a representation of the more modern look of the library. On the opposite end there is a completely different view. On that side one can take in the ambiance of an old building (old Fire Brigade Headquarters). This is a big contrast to this modern building. The library is a good example of architectural regeneration, the old building has been transform into a new more modern building while still keeping the architectural design on the old building at the surface. A lot of times in urban geography there may be views stating that there is a destruction of historic building within an urban centre, like that of the "old" building and replacing these with modern buildings however what the library in this picture shows is something totally different. This building goes a different way within the urban centre showing that historic buildings can be incorporated with newer and more modern buildings to give rise to a classic and perhaps more beautiful buildings than the occasional and more common urban buildings like that of the Nicholas Tower located in the same urban centre of Port of Spain. 

According to the textbook, historic building within the city usually have some kinda of meaning and value to the society and thus these artefacts or landmarks should be maintained. According to Aylin Orbasli in the book Architectural Conservation, conservation of historic buildings can promote national identity and also stimulate tourism. This author also mentions that historic building can be adapted and reused in the modern times and that when these buildings are regenerated the significance and meaning of the building is enhanced. There is also a need a incorporate the meaning of the building when regenerating, adapting or adding on other buildings to the historic landmark, only when these things are done, then the historic building is regenerated in a proper manner. Looking at the photograph above one could wonder if the concept described by Aylin Orbasli was successful with that project of the old building and new library or if it was unsuccessful. 

More information about the different architecture of the library can be found at the websites below:
http://thinkinginsomniac.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/architecture-sketch-old-public-library-port-of-spain-trinidad/ 
http://thinkinginsomniac.wordpress.com/tag/national-library/



REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 
Orbasli, Aylin. Architectural Conservation. United Kingdom: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2008. Print