Gary Hughes applauds a musical animal in one of Europe’s trendiest cities, but hasn’t a good word to say about two grey and soulless London thoroughfares
My modern wonder is the Armadillo concert hall in Glasgow. I commute from Glasgow every week and there is nothing nicer than flying into the city on a Friday night after a hard week working in London to look out of the window and see this beautiful piece of architecture sitting on the banks of the Clyde because it reminds me I am home. I think that Glasgow has come up a hell of a long way in the past 20 years from being the image of a mean city to actually one of the liveliest and trendiest cities in Europe. I think the Armadillo is one of the signs of the rebirth of the city, so it means a lot to us. And I have seen some bloody good bands play there – Dirty Pretty Things, Texas and Van Morrison to name but three.
My blunder is anything on the Euston and Marylebone Road in London. There can’t be a more depressing thoroughfare anywhere else in Europe. It’s grey, it’s horrible, there’s no signage, there’s nothing to say that you’re actually in the centre of what is one of the most exciting cities in the world. It hasn’t been designed in any shape or format. It leaves you absolutely soulless on the way to work.
Postscript
Gary Hughes is chief executive of CMPi, the publisher of Building
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