Asmiral Insurance HQ

Having done a bit of digging around I found the article below -

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local ... on-3002130

There are in fact two alternatives (or at least there were when the article was published). If we have to have either (and actually I would rather just have a tree or nothing) then the second one would be better.

I don't actually know what the planning requirements were and whether it was a condition that there was public art outside the building. I know that the Council has a public art strategy (although I don't know the details and I haven't the time to investigate) but it seems to me that it would be preferable to place funds gathered from developers into a pot which will fund more ambitious and important public art and or public realm improvements in the local area.

I can't help thinking that public art for public art's sake is counter productive. Does anyone feel anything other than mild embarrassment when they see the bronze figurative collections of shoppers in Queen Street, the silly meaningless nonsense in Charles Street, the devastatingly unimaginative artwork chosen to adorn SD2 - the words to the Welsh national anthem planted in the floor to be walked over and ignored - or the stuff that must have been picked randomly from the Public Art Corporate Catalogue that you see outside British Gas in Callaghan Square or Atlantic House in Tyndall Street? And who is fed up of seeing miners everywhere? Gareth Edwards in SD1? Wasn't he from Swansea way and what's a rugby player doing in a shopping centre anyway?

The fact that Cardiff appears to be appropriating motifs/individuals that are more closely connected elsewhere - miners, rugby players, Nye Bevan, the John Masefield poem that informs all of the artwork around Mermaid Quay and which surely could not have been written with Cardiff in mind suggests an identity problem. The other stuff on display - the big ring outside the Central Library is a good example - has no connection to anywhere and sort of reinforces the feeling that Cardiff doesn't really know what it is.

Apologies for veering the thread off topic....

I'd forgotten how bad both those were ! I know I keep going on about it every time there's a major development in the city and they do this sort of shit, but what's wrong with a simple fountain and some seats around it ? Just give people somewhere to sit around something quite pleasant.

The identity thing and why statues for non-Cardiff people is a funny one, and I think it's partly related to Cardiff's role as a capital city and the centre of a wider region as well as those people having a loose association with something in the city. For example, Gareth Edwards played for Cardiff RFC and for Wales (Why his statue is in a shopping centre instead of on Westgate Street is what I find a bit odd).

Likewise miners. Even though Cardiff (to my knowledge) has never been a mining city some of it's history is built around mining that happened elsewhere. Nye Bevan, I guess, is significant as a Welshman and with Cardiff being the capital the city has put up a statue...unless there's some other reason there's a statue of him ?

As an outsider from elsewhere in south Wales that's fallen in love with the city I do appreciate a nod to things that aren't obviously Cardiff but shows people like me that Cardiff cares about it's hinterland and being the capital.

I agree with your other point though. Instead of saving up all the cash and having something genuinely striking that is memorable to visitors they just have lots of average and below average dross that most people just ignore.

I agree with much of Karl and Kyle's comments - the area around the Norwegian Church in particular is like a museum of bad public art!

There are some pieces that I like though. The giant hands hauling a rope outside the old Custom House are striking and appropriate. "People Like Us" in Mermaid Quay is a bit kitsh but much loved and photographed as is the Celtic torque in the Oval Basin.

I think it is appropriate for a capital to reflect the entirety of the country not just the city itself. Having said that we have far too many miners! How about a foundryman or two? Iron was just as important as coal in the story of the city.

As far as the two options for Admiral are concerned they're meaningless and pointless.

Kyle - you are right. As a capital city Cardiff should reflect the wider region. After all you wouldn't expect all statutes in London to be of Londoners. The City Hall has a hall with marble statues of Welsh heroes none of whom (as far as I know) come from Cardiff. It has umpteen establishments named after St David's as well and as far as I'm aware he didn't come within a country mile of the Taff.

For me there is something bloodless and hackneyed about some of the the public art provision. It's as though a space is identified, a brain storming session ensues and then a committee agrees that whatever is plonked there should 'reflect Wales' coal mining tradition/association with dragons/something vaguely industrial/someone sporty'. It seems to follow the path of least resistance, as if a collection of people with no connection to Cardiff or Wales have been asked to come up with something representative and then conflate Cardiff with Welsh stereotypes because its easy. And quite a lot of it is really trite. The oversized cock-eyed miner overlooking Roath Basin is one of the worst. We get that it supposed to represent Cardiff's part in the coal industry but does it have to be so literal (and badly executed)?

At the other end of the scale is the meaningless corporate stuff that I've referenced above. It's basically clutter. I'd prefer developers were told to keep the public art money and use it during the design process.

In respect of the public art, they've gone for the worst of the two in my opinion.

It's the massive lightning strike that's going up, they announced it to the firm this week. I think it's a reference to "project bolt" which is ongoing in the company at the moment, which is the plan to completely refurbish all their IT systems.

The move into Ty Admiral is on plan with quite a few departments now working out of the new building including the CEO and all of the board of directors. The reception is now almost finished and the downstairs windows have been blacked out so they can unveil in a few weeks time. From what I've seen I think it is going to look very impressive and actually a much higher spec than I anticipated.

Everyone should be in by Christmas.

To me, the Admiral building is small and bland. They could and should have done much more.

the Capital tower is iconic for Cardiff because it is the tallest building in the city. It would be nice to see a nice finish to the outside, a few floors added and a restaurant/observation added to the top floor.

Tidy addition to the lobby of Ty Admiral!

they've spelt alf 'n' alf wrong

The cladding in the foyer is the same as in the new Newport office.

Progress on the lightning public art outside Admiral's HQ. Sorry for the scroll feature - I just can't get the hang of linking to Flickr