Is Birmingham at the forefront in terms of Modern Architecture?

The last decade in particular, has seen a number of striking, modern designs added to Birmingham City Centre’s skyline…

Birmingham’s collection of modern architecture is on the rise and has been for over a decade. Arguably, it’s resulted in Birmingham being titled as Englands ‘second city’, after the country’s capital. The number of developments that have taken place in Birmingham in recent years have increased the city’s worth as well as it’s reputation – making it a go to place for tourists.

Let’s take a look at a few of the many buildings that is pushing Birmingham to the top spot for fantastic, modern architecture:

Bullring Shopping Centre

After the opening of the Bullring in 2003, it’s unique style and modern touches led to it winning the RIBA award for Architecture in 2004. Most of the credit goes to Benoy, who did the majority of it’s planning and designing.
Its unique exterior, making it one of Birmingham’s most popular modern buildings, is made up of over 15,000 aluminium disks. It’s claimed that the Bullring cost over half a million pounds a day to build.

Library of Birmingham

The library of Birmingham opened in April 2013 and was shortly after awarded ‘Building of the year’ in Architect Journal. It was designed by Francine Houben and cost an estimated £188 million in construction.
During it’s existence, it’s become a popular tourist destination and has received high publicity several times after being lit up to mark different occasions and memorial’s such as the Birmingham Pub Bombings and the Orlando Shootings.

10 Holloway Circus

10 Holloway Circus opened back in 2006 and is the second tallest skyscraper in Birmingham, after the infamous BT tower. It’s glass exterior and bright blue contrast makes it one of Birmingham’s most eye-catching buildings. 10 Holloway Circus is home to a number of apartments, as well as the Radisson Blu Hotel. It has a whopping 39 floors and is 427 foot tall.

The Cube

The Cube is known as one of Birmingham’s most iconic landmarks and certainly stands out amongst Birmingham’s busy skyline due to it’s unique detail and design. It was designed by Ken Shuttleworth who in fact won a competition to have the final say in it’s exterior. It was completed by 2010 and cost an estimated £100 million to construct. The Cube is a mixed-use development, including office, retail and residential properties.

Millennium Point

After it’s opening by the Queen in 2002, Millennium Point quickly hit the headlines as one of Birmingham’s most iconic forms of architecture. It’s cuboid shape is entwined with a cylindrical offshoot and it’s front is made up of glass. The complex has a number of uses however it’s mainly educational, containing Birmingham Science Museum, Birmingham City University’s Computing Campus and more. It’s Giant Screen Cinema is also a popular attraction. The construction is estimated to of cost £114 million.

Birmingham New Street & Grand Central 

One of Birmingham’s more recent modern architectures come in the form of Birmingham’s New Street train station and Grand Central shopping centre which is situated above. New Street is Birmingham’s most popular and largest train station seeing roughly over 200,000 commuters a day.
In 2015, Grand Central opened to the public, previously known as The Pallasades. Grand Central’s unique shape and glass emphasised exterior makes it yet another iconic building in Birmingham’s City Centre. It is currently owned by Hammerson and CPPIB and is home to over 60 different stores, including one of John Lewis’ largest ever department stores.

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