United Kingdom
Working with artists caused familiar frictions. They
were included in this project for the same reasons
that Thomas Heatherwick was taken on to design
the Blue Carpet. There is a view that artists are less
entrammelled by conventional solutions and can
bring a spark of creativity to a project. This certainly
seems to have been the case in both Newcastle and
Sheffield, but there is another side to the balance
sheet, which is that artists do not always understand
the technical constraints involved in designing for
public places. Often the landscape architect has to
sort out some of the practical difficulties on behalf
of the artist. The water vessels, for example, initially
leaked and a way had to be found to make them
waterproof. There are also spalling problems with the
ceramic tiles laid into the rills, though this seems to
be a manufacturing problem rather than any failing of
the artist or deficiency in the specification.
All manner of constraints can have a bearing upon
design decisions, but not be apparent to the visitor.
The litter bins, for example, had to be made out of
Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) because they had
to be bomb-proof. The artists would have preferred
them to have been made from metal, and in aes-
thetic terms they were almost certainly right, but
the public safety argument prevailed. GRP was also
used for some of the smaller planters in Town Hall
Square but an only half successful attempt was
made to match the larger bronze planters in colour.
The quality of workmanship in the Peace Gardens
themselves is exemplary, but standards are not
quite so high in Town Hall Square, where the
budget was not as generous. The public will per-
haps not notice the stone slabs which have not
been cut to a radius, but it is something which the
professional eye picks up. The sett paving is suf-
fering from problems caused by the high pressure
machines used for cleaning which is washing the
grouting from between the blocks. It is also regret-
table, if only in terms of the sustainable sourcing
of materials, that the setts had to be purchased
from Portugal because the British equivalent was
too expensive.
Viewed as a whole, the Peace Gardens are an
impressive achievement without major shortcom-
ings. It is also reassuring to see that Sheffield City
Council is committed to maintaining the scheme
to a high standard. Perhaps one might say that it
would be a very poor show if they did not look after
this project, considering that it is right next door to
the Town Hall, but similar schemes in similar places
have fallen into disrepair or have been torn apart by
vandals. This seems unlikely to happen in Sheffield
where they have had the foresight to keep security
staff on the site around the clock, a return perhaps
to the old traditions of park-keeping which once
protected such valued places as resources for the
whole community.
