by Shades — published on June 3rd, 2007
(Note: I have deliberately uploaded smaller image views as I am conscious of blog loading times for those web connection doesn’t run at the speed of Pooh through a Goose. I’m also conscious that the blogger image sizing & wraparound code is pants so sorry for the quirky layout. As ever, click on a photo for a more detailed image).
David and I went on a backstage tour of the Cardiff Millennium Centre, home to Welsh National Opera and a bucket load of other theatre companies. The theatre is less than three years old. The signature aspect of the design is the huge bilingual calligraphy writing on the angled facade. 
The english bit says “In these stones horizons sing” and the Welsh bit says “Creu Gwir fel Gwydr o Ffwrnais Awen” and is a different phrase to the English one. I hoped that it translated to “My Hovercraft is full of Eels”, but disappointingly, it actually means “Creating truth like glass from inspiration’s furnace”.
The guidebooks make a feature of the curved bulk of the roof but don’t mention the view from the rear which is considerably less inspiring, consisting of utilitarian windows with air ducts above. 
This is very much the business end of the stage house with dressing rooms and offices (& presumably air handling plant above judging from the air ducts).The main cladding of the central building is a burnished steel but the flanking wings (known as the anchorage and the waterside to use nautical metaphors) are clad with slate and glass in a stratified manner.
Internally, various (sustainable) hardwoods are used for the balcony & stairwell facias, whilst the supporting columns are a very dark material in a diamond pattern that is very tactile. The columns are vaying heights and are capped with a functional light fitting described as industrial.
The calligraphy is also echoed internally and subtle tints of glass give a banding effect. Here is a billion monkeys self portrait of myself reflected in the bar mirror at the lowest of the three levels.
Sadly, this area is not open to the public outside of performances which is a real pain if toilets are closed as the two ends are not otherwise linked.
(We’d been in the building a couple of days previously and snapped this appearance of a Tardis & a Dalek!)
Photography wasn’t allowed backstage or in the auditoria, so I had to make do with a snap of the advert banner for the tours. The main auditorium has a variable acoustic by the lowering of quilted sound absorbing panels to the sides. When raised, thousands of different sized mylar panels reflect sound in multiple directions (each one hand fitted to a complex plan from the acoustic consultants).
Here are a smattering of other images:
Checking up a few facts afterwards, I found out the tour that would have been the ideal one for me- the Access all areas Techie tour.
(Image from the Cardiff Millennium Centre website).
Why is the building unmistakably Welsh? Because the design brief said so.
by Shades — published on June 3rd, 2007
I’ve been merrily nominating all sorts of sites for all sorts of categories (even my own! after all, if I don’t, no-one else probably will…)
Feel free to do the same, you have until Tuesday 9pm, after which it moves into the voting phase.
(Hat tip to Liz for the cartoon creator link)
(It was Al Capone, who said Vote Early, Vote Often, as well as alluded to by some Leeds Labour Councillors…)
by Shades — published on June 3rd, 2007
Deja Vu, “as any fule nose”, is the feeling you get when you’ve been somewhere before. Sometimes you don’t actually have to have been there and sometimes the feeling is associative through evocative memory rather than actuality.
I experienced it at Penarth, a small seaside town south west of Cardiff when I saw the Pier Pavilion building. I quickly made the connection- the 1999 arts film House! used it as the exterior of a former theatre turned cinema turned bingo hall. (The interiors used a Miners welfare Hall elsewhere). House! is set in South Wales and is a rather sentimental (to me) story about the decline and unexpected resurgence of a building after an unfortunate series of events. It is rather funny, tastefully made and well worth getting. (It is tricky to find on Amazon, so here is a link).
It hadn’t been obvious to me that it had been a pier pavilion building in the film, but on rewatching key scenes, it is obvious in hindsight, particularly the two wings.
The exterior gives no clues at at to its current use. The Directors’ commentary on the DVD referred to it being in use as a gym, which I took to mean a health club.
Peering through a fire escape window, the reality is even more surprising- it is full of artistic gymnastics equipment like parallel bars, balance bars, high bars and lots & lots of blue mats.
The hall is rather squalid internally, although it does have a gallery at land end, but surprisingly, not a stage at the sea end. A curved glazed lounge complements the entrance area on the opposite end of the building and the turrets are matched.
This was a steamer pier rather than a pleasure one and has been damaged a couple of times over the decades, as is often the fate of most seaside piers. It does, however, seem to be fairly popular and not specifically threatened. (There are even plans to restore the interior, pdf here
The beach is a bit of a letdown though- shale even coarser than Brighton. Throwing rocks into the sea is a Junior’s idea of heaven though!
Five miles further round the coastline lies Barry Island, renowned for its golden sands and Fun Fair.
The beach is really nice and the Prom spacious. (The strange tubular object bottom right is the top of the telescope that I used the housing for as a panorama tripod).
I imagine that Barry island is to a Cardiffian (?) what Whitley Bay is to a Geordie- full of happy memories but now past its best.
The entrances to the Fun Fair promise a lot, but the delights within are something of a let-down.
The Fun fair was a big disappointment, half the rides were closed or not even there. The Log Flume looked attractive, running over a (closed) river caves type ride next door…
But the rest of the park gave way to spartan touring rides and scattered sideshows.
David loved the beach though!
Deja Vu at barry- for the Spanish City in Whitley.
Girl you look so pretty to me,
just like you always did,
Like the Spanish City to me,
when we were kids…
(Tunnel of Love, by Dire Straits, decrepid image of the crumbling Spanish City found on Google Images from Radio Paradise)
David and I went on a backstage tour of the Cardiff Millennium Centre, home to Welsh National Opera and a bucket load of other theatre companies. The theatre is less than three years old. The signature aspect of the design is the huge bilingual calligraphy writing on the angled facade. 
The english bit says “In these stones horizons sing” and the Welsh bit says “Creu Gwir fel Gwydr o Ffwrnais Awen” and is a different phrase to the English one. I hoped that it translated to “My Hovercraft is full of Eels”, but disappointingly, it actually means “Creating truth like glass from inspiration’s furnace”.
This is very much the business end of the stage house with dressing rooms and offices (& presumably air handling plant above judging from the air ducts).The main cladding of the central building is a burnished steel but the flanking wings (known as the anchorage and the waterside to use nautical metaphors) are clad with slate and glass in a stratified manner.
Internally, various (sustainable) hardwoods are used for the balcony & stairwell facias, whilst the supporting columns are a very dark material in a diamond pattern that is very tactile. The columns are vaying heights and are capped with a functional light fitting described as industrial.
The calligraphy is also echoed internally and subtle tints of glass give a banding effect. Here is a billion monkeys self portrait of myself reflected in the bar mirror at the lowest of the three levels.
