Archtitect for the £1bn scheme

[john@staustell]

New siging by chairman Mubarak - Rafael Vinoly

Never heard of him myself but I'm sure he's well appreciated in these circles!

http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?s ... article%29


Vinoly’s £1bn scheme could take the Blues away


Manchester City might be playing in the Europa League next season, but planned complex is the stuff of champions

For the summer at least, the City of Manchester Stadium will fall silent.


The end of the football season means that fans of Manchester City can dream of Champions League success next time around under their Abu Dhabi chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who is also the head of Mubadala Development Company.

But the absence of throngs of supporters streaming into east Manchester does not mean that things are not happening behind the scenes.

Although manager Roberto Mancini will no doubt be scouring the transfer market for players, his boss has been strongly linked with a swoop on top architect Rafael Vinoly to design a £1bn sports and leisure complex on 200 acres of land around the stadium.

As with all the best transfer rumours, nobody wants to say much. Manchester City Council, which has signed a development agreement with the football club and regeneration company New East Manchester to develop a huge project on the site, directed all enquiries to Eastlands.

When the name Rafael Vinoly was then put to the Manchester City press office, all Property Week received was a terse “no comment”.

But Vinoly (left) and Al Mubarak have played together before. Vinoly is the architect on Mubadala’s Mina Zayed waterfront scheme in Abu Dhabi. That project comprises leisure and entertainment facilities and forms part of a 150 acre urban waterfront redevelopment that will be a central plank of Abu Dhabi’s plans to become a world-class tourism destination. It is anchored by an MGM Mirage gaming hotel.

The similarities between what he is doing there and the vision for Eastlands are striking. A source familiar with Mubadala said: “They have done a lot of work together in the past. It would not be a surprise to anyone if they were to team up at the Manchester City site.”

Vinoly was also a prominent figure on the Mubadala stand at the Cityscape property exhibition, held in the emirate last month.

If Vinoly is to be signed, it will be a significant step forward for the site, which has been looking for a scheme ever since 2007, when the government announced that a supercasino could be built there, but then changed its mind.

Instead of gamblers, the plan now accommodates a world-class training complex, leisure facilities, restaurants, retail and a hotel.

Perhaps it is time for fans to wonder how Vinoly would look in a blue shirt

[Dipstick]

£1,000,000,000 is a lot of pennies (well 100,000,000,000 to be exact) - would give the local economy a big lift.

Perhaps we need an official ground development rumours thread!

[Original Dub]

God I love this club.

[Blue Since 76]

As is traditional whenever any transfer rumour is put forward, I Googled him. Some impressive stuff and some really boring stuff (check the hospitals). As such, he looks good in some clips but not that great in others - a bit like watching Robbie in a game in Brazil.

I therefore suggest the man we need is Santiago Calatrava. Done some amazing bridges, including Trinity Bridge in Manchester, but the art centre in Valencia is unbelievable. It's actually more amazing in real life than it is in pictures - get him in City.

Nah, we're loaded, get them both in and get them to do one half each, without knowing what the other one is doing.

[Dipstick]

As is traditional whenever any transfer rumour is put forward, I Googled him. Some impressive stuff and some really boring stuff (check the hospitals). As such, he looks good in some clips but not that great in others - a bit like watching Robbie in a game in Brazil.

I therefore suggest the man we need is Santiago Calatrava. Done some amazing bridges, including Trinity Bridge in Manchester, but the art centre in Valencia is unbelievable. It's actually more amazing in real life than it is in pictures - get him in City.

Nah, we're loaded, get them both in and get them to do one half each, without knowing what the other one is doing.

We could get Vinoly to do the Sports & Leisure centre while Calatrava gives Mary D's a bit of a revamp - not too much though - don't want to ruin the atmosphere.

[Beefymcfc]

I know that Abu Dhabi have their own track, but I'd love to see them do the same in Manchester. We're struggling to keep the British Grand Prix at Silverstone/Donnington and if East Manchester got such an event, it'd make the whole world turn and say, 'Now that's what it's all about'!

[JonnyAsh]

Sory I can't load jpegs, but here's some of his work

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tokyo ... 2s3872.jpg
Tokyo International Forum, Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Conve ... thside.jpg
Pittsburgh Centrforn USA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kimme ... iorHDR.jpg
Kimmel Centre Philly

http://www.woodsbagot.com/en/Pages/MinaZayed.aspx
Mina Zayed Waterfront Development, Abu Dhabi,

[CitizenYank]

Mongo know nothing about such things.

[Tokyo Blue]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tokyo ... 2s3872.jpg
Tokyo International Forum, Japan

Aye, I've been there and it's a nice building. Good acoustics for the concert halls and lots of natural light.

[john68]

I know that Abu Dhabi have their own track, but I'd love to see them do the same in Manchester. We're struggling to keep the British Grand Prix at Silverstone/Donnington and if East Manchester got such an event, it'd make the whole world turn and say, 'Now that's what it's all about'!

I can just imagine the teams turning up for the race to find all the motors nicked...Or as Hamilton comes round the final bend, he gets overtaken by a scally boy racer in a stolen souped up VW Golf.

[Dameerto]

That would be funny - they finish their warmup lap, tension mounts as they rev their engines on the grid, the lights change to green and... no one moves 'cause all their cars are propped up on bricks after having their wheels nicked

[razor400]

im being a mong this morning

[razor400]

oops

[Beefymcfc]

That would be funny - they finish their warmup lap, tension mounts as they rev their engines on the grid, the lights change to green and... no one moves 'cause all their cars are propped up on bricks after having their wheels nicked

Or doing a max of 30 mph because GMP have installed new speed camera's!