After almost 20 years in the business, architect Irwin Lopez, a partner at international practice Denton Corker Marshall, still gets a thrill from handing over a building to a client. Lopez shares his experience working on Exhibition Centre Liverpool.
When did you become involved in the design of Exhibition Centre Liverpool?
When the project came out to the market in 2012 there was already a design on the table from Populous. We at Denton Corker Marshall were privileged to take the design forward, but we can’t say it was ours from the start. The outside world often thinks an architect can take something and then change it to suit his approach or design skills. That is rarely the case.
After a two-year process to develop a brief and a concept it’s highly unlikely you would change it, but you can still progress the concept and fine-tune the detail. When you stop and think about how much of your own life you put into a project it’s a big achievement for us to hand over a building.
Convention centres present unique requirements, how did you approach the project?
When you’ve got crowds of delegates attending events, they must be steered and shepherded in a certain way. Everything needs to be easily identifiable and accessible. The skill of the architect is to translate all of that into a serviceable, easy- to-use building. At Liverpool, one side of the atrium faces the river so you can use that to orientate yourself. It’s the same at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. You’re always going from a very light space into a darker space, and back out again.
The long concourse is a very simple architecture device. To supplement that, each hall has its own entrance and signage. They’re all markers. The building itself should act like a big sign. For example, the hotel element is near exhibition centre entrance, but we’ve put a yellow box at the top, which you can see from around Liverpool. It’s saying: ‘I’m here, come and have a look at me.’
While I was training, somebody once said to me: ‘being an architect is like lighting a candle, everybody is trying to blow it out along the way, so you have to keep information simple for everybody to understand, otherwise it can easily go astray’.
Was it a challenge working adjacent to a world heritage zone?
The approach had to be architecturally respectful. We looked at viewpoints from across the Mersey, because the last thing you want to do is create a building that limits visibility of the cathedral. The river setting is wonderful and a natural extension of the building. By including a glazed concourse you interact with the river. It’s spectacular at around 6pm when the light changes.
Convention centre owners are making a sizeable investment, how to you go about future-proofing a building? We had a very pro-active client in Liverpool. They were very robust in their approach, and looked for flexibility and adaptability.
