Ian Simpson Totally Explained

Everything about Ian Simpson totally explained

Ian Simpson is an English architect and one of the partners of Ian Simpson Architects, established in 1987 with Rachel Haugh. The practice is based in Manchester with offices in London. He has designed a number of buildings in England, including:

Existing and under construction

Planned buildings

Beetham Tower, London

Brunswick Quay, Liverpool

Criterion Place, Leeds

No. 1 Westbridge Towers, Leicester

Albany Crown Tower, Manchester

Westbridge Hotel Tower, Leicester

Ian Simpson's Manchester Buildings

Since the IRA bombing of 1996, Ian Simpson Architects have played a large role in the reconstruction of Manchester, with many of the city's most notable new buildings having been designed by the firm. While a few of these projects, such as the Urbis Centre, have been met with almost unanimous acclaim by Mancunians, most of the company's other buildings have been somewhat more controversial. Detractors describe Simpson's buildings as "souless glass towers", complaining about the height and unattractive shapes of buildings such as The Beetham Tower on Deansgate.

The Grand

One of Simpson's first completed projects was The Grand apartments on Aytoun Street in Manchester city centre. The building had originally been a warehouse in the mid 1800s and was later converted to a hotel. Simpson's firm changed the use of the building, and the seven storey stone fronted building was divided into one, two or three bedroom luxury apartments. It was one of the first such residential developments in the city. The old roof frame of the winter garden was removed and was used as a feature in the lobby of the building. The new roof was an innovative floating design, suspended glass structure which was open-ended on all sides.
The rear of the building has an incomplete finished, with bare grey breeze blocks to the rear of the development.

No. 1 Deansgate and the Urbis

2002 saw the completion of two more of Simpson's buildings in Manchester city centre - The Urbis and No. 1 Deansgate, both of which are glass skinned with sloping roofs. The Urbis was designed as a museum of the urban environment and arts centre. No. 1 Deansgate is a residential development, with retail outlets at ground level. The apartments feature an innovative "buffer zone", essentially glass enclosed balconies designed to reduce street noise and to aid interior climate control.
Neither of these developments were free of controversy however, with the Urbis struggling financially despite being heavily subsidised. No. 1 Deansgate was subject to the wrath of its residents, when they complained that the waste disposal system smelled and the lifts repeatedly failed, despite the £500 a month maintenance charges. There were also problems with the mechanical window cleaning system, meaning the whole of the building's glass facade had to be cleaned by hand.

Beetham Tower

Simpson's most recently completed project is The Beetham Tower, again located on Deansgate. It is Europe's tallest mixed use building, with 48 floors, standing 169 metres tall. The tower contains a hotel accommodation for the first 22-floors, and a bar and lounge on the 23rd floor, both operated by Hilton; and residential apartments from the 24th floor up to the 48th floor.
During the installation of the glass and steel 'blade' on the roof, a strange noise problem emerged. People reported that the building "whistles" (more like an intermittent hum) in windy weather. The sound is close to standard musical C (approximately 262 Hertz); some say it's like a "UFO landing" in sci-fi films. The noise also affected the production of local soap opera, Coronation Street with producers having to create extra background noise as the tower is close to the show's set. Despite apparently rectifying the problem, the humming sound can still be heard on occasion in the area, depending on wind direction.

Crown Albany Tower

One of Simpson's proposed projects is the Crown Albany Tower, again located on Auyton Street. It is of a similar design to the Beetham Tower, but with 44 floors, will be slightly shorter in height.

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