“Above all else a renewed Market Square must reflect and project that which is distinctive now about Nottingham and its citizens and the future they will share. Just as today it speaks of our well remembered past, Old Market Square is our signature, must remain so and become even more besides”
A city’s most prominent public space should be a reflection of how it views itself and a statement of how it wishes to be seen by the outside world. As the principle public space in Nottingham, the re-design of the Old Market Square must lead to the reinvention of a space that can be both comfortable and familiar to the city’s citizens; a place that they will want to pass through, inhabit and use, but also through the character of its features, provide the city with a space that can inspire.
A sense of place is essential to an individual’s as well as a community’s well being. Holding on to one’s sense of self in the whirlwind of our multi-cultural, information-driven society can be daunting. In such a constantly changing world, the challenge is to anchor one’s soul and the soul of a place. Our intent is to create a place that distils this essence while allowing for evolution. Our first step is to identify what is unique and central to Nottingham as a city and the Old Market Square as a place.
Angel Row marks the location of an inn at the entrance to the medieval town of Nottingham and its market square. An inn with the title of the ‘Angel’ signified to travelers, a safe haven and place to regain energy for future transactions or journey’s, a place that welcomed visitors from near or far!
After walking through the tight twisting streets of Nottingham or traveling on a congested bus or tram one arrives at the spacious Old Market Square and gets a sensation of release and a feeling of being welcome – the square is the city’s guardian angel, a safe haven, a place to regain energy, wait for and meet friends, a place to be diverted momentarily from daily routines and on occasion watch spectacular cultural and civic events
A map of the town from 1610 shows a dynamic line entering Old Market Square
from Chapel Bar and the Derby Road, a feature that led visitors into the town’s
heart and the space that the people of Nottingham depended on for their prosperity.
We wish to resurrect the market as the focus of activities within the square,
one that recognises changing lifestyles and offers specialist goods and can
operate into the evenings.
The dynamic line we have interpreted as a water channel that acts as a focus
and leads one to a spectacular water feature at the heart of the square. Nottingham,
built on a hill required a system of pumps in the 16th century to fill reservoirs
to the northwest, these fed channels that delivered fresh water to the town’s
inhabitants.
Our contemporary interpretation of this historic system is a series of three water terraces that change character as water passes down the slope of the squares west side. The water will appear as though it is passing through a purification system. It is here that visitors can sit on bench steps amongst water or under the dappled light below a canopy of trees with a balcony view watching activities unfold within the main body of the square.
The water terraces offer an alternative and as spectacular a focus as the Council House that currently dominates the square’s east side. Our aim is to provide a flexible space that can change character, from day to night, from season to season and as varying events require. The Market Square should appear active and safe when empty and then when full of activity, appear spacious and calm.
The water channel continues across the square as a diagonal route to Exchange Walk, Cheapside and the Council House. A similar ‘path of light’ is placed between Smithy Row and Friar Lane, leading to Nottingham Castle. These routes create a diagonal cross of least resistance to movement across the square, one emphasized by water, the other by light. These will reconnect the square to its surroundings from east to west revitalizing the city’s historic heart.
These new east west routes will enable access to specialist markets and popular events in the centre of the square. By removing obstructions such as ramped level changes, steps and balustrades, a greater flexibility in the arrangement of events such as fairs, markets, and performances will allow a better choreography of movement in and around the square. The diagonal routes leave four spaces for rest and events, the water terraces, the seating steps, the market place and the tram stop.
Beast Market Hill and South Parade will remain as the destination for trams
and buses, along with the arrival and departure of visitors that use them.
South Parade will be characterized by a ribbon of light that will ripple like
a wave whenever the tram enters the square, alerting pedestrians to its imminent
arrival and providing time to reach the stop. The ribbon of light will continue
its path down Friar Lane across Maid Marian Way to the Castle entrance.
Long Row with its elevated view over the square and sunny position will become a terrace for cafés and restaurants and a tree lined avenue of Liriodendron trees along which pedestrians promenade and window-shop. Immediately to the south of this route, in the sun a series of broad elevated seating steps define the northern edge of the square, enabling an adjustment in its levels that create the flat plane on which the Council House sits and from which the market can operate.
With safety in mind, we have used the square’s natural topography to create an easily observed dished surface at its centre. This enables the whole central space to be easily observed both on entry and as one walks around its perimeter. With good lighting, the diagonal routes through the centre of the space can be traversed without fear of entering an obstructed dark hole that currently makes the square inhospitable late at night.
In order to provide amenities to the local population one has to understand their needs. The Square is a gathering point for varied and different communities. What are their specific needs? A place for meetings, promenading and watching the world go by, can also hold theatrical and community events. However these cultural / social activities and recreational needs must be balanced with the requirements for public circulation. Our aim has been to enhance links across the square to connect the varied districts of the city, but also bring the communities, of those districts, both young and old, to each other at the city’s heart.
Because space is rare and a luxury in our cities, the same space needs to accommodate different layers of programme, becoming spaces of tranquility and activity. Any public space must strive to be “both empty when active and active when empty”, The Square’s natural topography and orientation creates opportunities for the Old Market Square to adapt to changing needs and events.
Looking at the path of light and shade across the square during the course of a day, it is clear that the north side receives sunlight for most of the day except in winter, as this is the edge on which we have placed a band of informal seating steps. The water feature also receives partial sun into the afternoon during the summer, however the shade cast by the tower block to the west creates the shadow in which water effects are made most visible.
The level change from a high point of 29 metres where Market Street meets the Square to the north and a low point of 25 metres at Wheeler Gate to the south provides the most dramatic level change. It is at this point we have placed the water feature enabling the market store, public toilets and the pump room for the feature to be housed below its surface, with a level access.
The water feature of three terraces during the day becomes the Square’s performing, active feature, when the market occupies the centre of the space the water terraces remain an alternative focus around which people can sit. However, as soon as a major event takes place the water can be switched off. The water terraces can then be transformed as either an amphitheatre to an event placed in front of the Council House for civic events or the spaces orientation can be switched with the water terraces as the stage and the market place as the amphitheatre for performances.
The Old Market Squares materials and features need to be robust to last the test of time, designed and selected to be in sympathy with their context, but unique to create a distinctive character to the place. The surfaces of the square provide opportunities for public art, not as stand alone works of art, but developed specifically for the place as a collaboration between an artist and the design team. The space is accessible to all, as ramp free and balustrade free an environment that can be created without compromising public safety.
The central market square should be a large flush light coloured surface of slip resistant granite that matches the Portland stone used in the Council House. It should be accessible to vehicles for staging events, setting up markets and creating the props for performances. Most importantly it should be easily cleaned through the provision of a valley drain asymmetrically set across its length.
Surrounding the central space, the use of York stone should be continued as the mediating material that defines the indigenous character of materials used in the buildings that surround the square’s perimeter. The water terraces and stepped benches will be in a light coloured granite to contrast with the York stone and offer a robust retaining surface which cleaning vehicles and other objects come up against.
Specialist markets create a focus in many cities, selling antiques, books, crafts, and farmers’ produce. To take account of changing lifestyles, they now operate into the early evening when people leave work for home or prior to visiting the cinema or theatre.
The market will operate from a storage kiosk set below the water feature. Here a purpose designed set of metal-framed market stalls can be stored and when required, easily erected into sockets set at regular intervals across the squares granite surface. The Parisian market stall could be used as the model for creating a simple system that is uniform and functional in character, whilst the canopies can create a dash of colour and light across the square on a dull grey day.
The existing problem, inaccessible and unobserved public toilets, is solved by accessing the new toilets from the south, at the square’s low point. They have been placed below the water terraces, along with the market store facilities and the water features’ pump room. The slightly ramped entry is easily observed from Friar Lane and Wheeler Gate, whilst watery natural light is created within by glass inlaid into the water terraces’ textured surface.
As water enters the terraces from the water channel on Long Row West it changes character. Visitors are attracted to the top balcony by fountains that play over the surface of a textured but thin water scrim inlaid with glass, metal and light. The second tier takes on a more turbulent texture, created in the stone by the latest computer generated stone cutting techniques. The last tier is a pool of water less than 300 mm deep, with aerated bubblers like a jacuzzi set into rippling stone that mimics the texture of wind rippling the water’s surface.
A path enables access to benches that define the level change between each water terrace. Water is channeled between the benches cascading down from one level to the next and on to each textured surface. The gentle level change will create a popular gathering space to observe and play with water and create a unique feature that when switched off can be used as an auditorium or stage for events. The Water feature offers an opportunity for collaboration between an artist and the design team.
The ribbon of light is an interactive feature located on the South Parade side of the square and leads into Friar Lane, linking the Council House to the Castle. Through the use of infra red detectors the movement of trams can create a wave of light that alerts people to their imminent arrival. The ribbon of light helps create a focus on the shady south side of the square and screens the tram stops and their cable structures as the main visual features on this edge. Like the water terraces it becomes the opportunity for a collaboration between an artist and the design team.
The Council House is currently lit from outside leaving its covered entrance arcade as an uninviting shadowy space. To give the impression of activity at night, we would light the arcade and windows of the Council House from within and only on occasions would the façade get moon lit as a backdrop for events.
A formal avenue of trees is placed along Long Row to reinforce its status as a promenade that links Chapel Bar and the western edge of the city with the shopping districts to the east. The trees we suggest are Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Tree) which flowers in mid summer and have a yellow autumn colour. The southern edge of the avenue is planted with Cladrastis lutea, an elegant tree planted informally amongst the seating steps. On South Parade leading into Angel Row we suggest an avenue of Quercus palustris (Pin Oak) that have leaves that turn bright red / brown in autumn reflecting the brick facades of many of the square’s 19th century buildings.
The surfaces of the square provide opportunities for public art, not as stand alone works of art, but developed specifically for the place as a collaboration between an artist and the design team.
In the past we have worked with artists such as Martin Richman, Shelagh Wakely and Barron Gould on landscape features involving light works and surface texture. The process of working on such features during the design phases of a project gives them unique qualities that are special to the place and ensures they sit happily within the overall landscape context.
Art Works will be created with artists as textured surface, inlaid with glass, metal or light undulating below the surface of the Water Terraces, whilst a ribbon of light will be suspended from the trams cable posts, framing the square at night and creating a rippling wave of light that passes ahead of moving trams and pedestrians.
Gustafson Porter
August 2004
The supporting text of the Gustafson Porter winning submission in the open competition for ‘Renewing Nottingham’s Old Market Square’ Thanks to Nilesh Patel of Gustafson Porter for his help with obtaining material.
Ken Brand
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