This was taken during a high period of optimism for Manchester UK - during the Commonwealth Games. I wasn't poaching - I had just completed shooting a building nearby and was having a sandwich minding my own business. Suddenly the sun came out and the rainbow appeared. I waited for the Children to run across. They do look as though they are jumping over the rainbow. It was taken with a Bronica ETRSI, 40mm lens on fuji velvia film.
Here in the UK it is just possible that we might be about to commit the same mistakes as we did in the 1960's when we bulldozed our way through large swathes of Victorian architectural heritage.
Apparently tens of thousands of 'terraced' properties are under threat, especially in the North of England - the traditional bastion of the terraced house. As was the case last century, many communities that are held together by the warp and weft of the terraced street are facing social dilution.
It is all too easy to provide a no-brainer solution such as demolition, especially when there is the golden ticket of prime real estate. The real cost of such a solution may be the continued fragmentation of our localities.
After all it isn't just about the terraced house - is it?
The proportion and scale of a group of C19th terraces; the stylistic expression and hierarchical use of the doors and windows; the meaning and use of name plaques; the messages contained within the group pattern - all can contribute to social cohesion.
Current legislative guidance for England notes that identity is an important factor. Planning Policy Guidance 15, (Planning and the Historic Environment 1994) notes that ' The physical survivals of our past are to be valued and protected for their own sake, as a central part of our cultural heritage and a sense of our national identity'. 
The feeling one has whilst walking through the terraced houses of the north of England is obviously different than walking around, lets say, Cantebury Cathedral. Nevertheless, there is a feeling; especially for the families within the tight network of streets who were rooted into the community by the proportional and spatial dynamics which led to such symbolic and domain charged acts as donkey stoning the front door step. The sight of the worn curve of a doorstep for ex-residentials going back to such a place might bring about emotions just as powerful as those experienced with that of high architecture. Communities grow and evolve, and by a process of osmosis the built form interacts with such communities helping shape and create identity.
The Burra Charter (adopted by the Australian National Committee of ICOMOS) introduces the idea of 'cultural significance'. It talks about the importance of 'less tangible aspects of cultural significance including those embodied in the use of heritage places, associations with a place and the meanings that places have for people.'
If this is the case then the North of England is about to lose much of its cultural and social identity.
All images by Andy Marshall
The Crescent Buxton, Derbyshire UK is a conscious modelling of its famous predecessor at Bath UK. It is a grand example the neo-classical movement and shows the exuberance and confidence of its patron, the 5th Duke of Devonshire who developed Buxton as a Spa Town. It was built between 1780 and 1784 by John Carr as a ballroom and assembly rooms. Carr had an international reputation building a hospital at Oporto Portugal (which was his biggest commission). His favourite building remained the Crescent, and it was the ground breaking multi-use format which would be copied from that point onwards.
Buxton is undergoing a renaissance and many of its buildings have been regenerated. It is a unique town in terms of the contrast between its rural location and its grand opulent architecture
You can view more of my images of Buxton here
There is a framed print available of the Crescent under my portfolio series here
Romanesque is one of my favourite styles of architecture. It has a spirit and a liveliness all of its own. This style of architecture carried primarily in the C11th and C12th holds within its essence the classical forms of Rome and Athens as a distant foggy memory. The Renaissance is a few hundred years away and the lack of classical discipline has allowed a pungent, vibrant, mutated form of architecture to develop which has a vernacular feel. In my opinion it is a mongrel form of architecture and it is all the better for it. Thick set, heavy, rude and imposing.
The image above is described as a C12th Dragons Head with scrolled tongue. It has also been described as a Dolphin's head (its antecedent being the pagan sculptures of Roman mythology). Whatever it is, it has a dynamic feel with the scroll of the tongue encapsulated within the harsh curve of its mouth. What does it tell us of the people that sculpted it? Were they a passive people?
This image is of the Dragons Head on the former bell tower at St Edmundsbury Cathedral at Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.
If you like Romanesque architecture you can view more here
Here is the man himself. The statue of Palladio in Piazza Palladio Vicenza (his home town). The Basilica behind was one of Palladio's first commissions. Vicenza is a remarkable place with an unbelievable classical heritage. I visited in February 2005 during my honeymoon and I managed to get a couple of architectural shots before being reigned in by my wife Charlotte!
It seems that romance won the day as you might tell with this image I took in the afternoon sunlight. 
