Interesting AMH/New Hall rumour

[Malcolm]

I heard a rumour that New Hall was built as a substitute for bad land/design, and that AMH is actually unfinished.

Apparently the whole thing about two ships colliding is rubbish - AMH is supposed to be asterisk shaped, but it never got finished for some reason (it was either to do with the land, or with the fact that the University didn't like the design at the last minute, they thought it looked strange or something). The North Haugh is allegedly built on land reclaimed from the sea, so there was something dodgy about the lie of the land when it came to actually finishing AMH.

So, instead of finishing AMH, New Hall was built.

Has anybody else heard this story, and is it true? It's certainly interesting, even if it is total guff.

Your thoughts please.

[hr]

"I must have some booze. I demand to have some booze."

[flarewearer]

It's a rumour that AMH was designed to be "mirrored" onto the other side to form a giant "X" or saltire. It was, however, to have been the first of a numbe rof similar structures on the North Haugh that were never completed due to cost.

There's a thread somewhere that goes into the specifics of Melville lore, i'll dig it out.

just out of interest, i looked it up on scran.ac.uk;

"First phase (250 rooms) of an abortive 1000 room student residence, built 1964-8 on North Haugh, site of mid-20th century expansion of University. Sited on steep slope facing North Sea, it remains the only project designed by James Stirling in Scotland.

Two splayed wings assembled from externally-textured concrete units (prefabricated in Edinburgh) which give the building its 'harshly crystalline' appearance, cascade from the slope."

[hr]

image:www.magnificentoctopus.com/x/elgar.png

[Al]

Well, I, among others, have been saying that about the saltire design for years, and people have been strangely reluctant to believe it. There is, or was, a map in the Library showing the North Haugh. Melville is X-shaped. The "upper bit" is in dotted lines.

I am not sure about New Hall being built as an alternative to finishing Melville. There was an awfully long gap between the two building programmes.

[Ga]

I was actually talking about this with a retired lecturer a few weeks ago. According to him AMH was meant to be the first of six, yes, six similar blocks arranged in a circle around North Haugh. This could possibly explain why the AMH pond is so far away from AMH itself, as the other blocks would have been arranged closer to it.

However, due the the huge number of problems with the first AMH block and (because of the design) the university being unable to demolish it, the university scrapped the rest of the blocks and decided to build the original DRH, Fife and Albany parks instead. These would not be on the North Haugh to avoid the problems with subsidence and use dull (if some what better) designed buildings, if you know what I mean.

Hence why DRH was based on a mental asylum, and poorly built (having to be done on the cheap) and why the university builds such dull, faceless, buildings like New Hall, new DRH etc. So when they do fall apart, the uni can just knock them down.

[Ewan Husami]

The land isn't artificially reclaimed from the sea, but thousands of years ago, the coastline was about where the back of Melville and New Hall is now. You'll notice the obvious shelf running along the back of the North Haugh.

The ground below the North Haugh is porous, sitting on top of a impervious layer which stretches into Fife. When the tide comes in, the water moves through the porous material, making the ground liable to subsidence.

The original plans for Melville featured a difference building material, but due to costs, a heavier (and cheaper) material was used instead, thus making AMH much more prone to sinking than had been planned.

[Nickel]

I heard that the site for New Hall was originally going to be used for a geography and geology building but they didn't want it because they considered the ground to be too unstable.

[flarewearer]

Quoting ewan husami from 13:50, 5th Mar 2006

The original plans for Melville featured a difference building material, but due to costs, a heavier (and cheaper) material was used instead, thus making AMH much more prone to sinking than had been planned.

Glass and steel, as favoured by James Stirling's designs, apparently replaced by the precast textured concrete blocks.

[hr]

image:www.magnificentoctopus.com/x/elgar.png

[physicist]

Quoting Malcolm from 02:35, 5th Mar 2006
I heard a rumour that New Hall was built as a substitute for bad land/design, and that AMH is actually unfinished.

The records from the sixties refer to North Haugh Residence Number 1 as the new hall of residence. This definitely suggusts there were to be further parts to AMH. If the 1000 students number is assumed, there should be 3 x 250 student additional copys of North Haugh Residence Number 1 in the plans (not including the current AMH).

[Steveo]

Quoting flarewearer from 01:01, 6th Mar 2006

Quoting ewan husami from 13:50, 5th Mar 2006

The original plans for Melville featured a difference building material, but due to costs, a heavier (and cheaper) material was used instead, thus making AMH much more prone to sinking than had been planned.

Glass and steel, as favoured by James Stirling's designs, apparently replaced by the precast textured concrete blocks.

I can tell you all right now that's a complete untruth. The materials used were supposed to be used, as the whole structure was to be easily dupicatable.

Also, AMH was to have more blocks emerging from the centre, I've seen the plans and a chapter in a book about Stirling's work, which were shown to me when I lived there last year bu thr warden.

So:
1. Yes, the land is prone to subsidance, for the reasons mentioned.
2. Melville was always designed to be how you see it in terms of materials used.
3. It was possible to have more blocks coming off the centre, as was the original plan.

Interestingly, Stirling designed the corridors to be purposely small and dark, to try and discourage students from saying in their rooms or having gatherings in corridors. The idea was to force them out onto the, as he called it, 'promenade' (the long galss fronted corridors) and the common rooms.

[hr]

Set your goals way too high so I can laugh when you fail.

[Guest]

From an article on AMH, and via the AMH committee webpage:

http://amh.st-andrews-uni.net/index.php?section=32

So not quite an X, although it does have four blocks.

Other pics of Melville being built are on there too.

[Ewan Husami]

At last! Concrete evidence!

[Lodestone]

Interestingly, Stirling designed the corridors to be purposely small and dark, to try and discourage students from saying in their rooms or having gatherings in corridors. The idea was to force them out onto the, as he called it, 'promenade' (the long galss fronted corridors) and the common rooms.

Thank goodness such architectural madness is no longer common practice . . .

[Steveo]

It works, and you can see it in the community atmosphere of AMH, which is the best community spirit of any hall.

[hr]

Set your goals way too high so I can laugh when you fail.

[Lodestone]

Quoting Steveo from 14:46, 6th Mar 2006
It works, and you can see it in the community atmosphere of AMH, which is the best community spirit of any hall.

Lived in them all, have you?

I don't doubt that AMH has a great atmosphere. I'm glad it does. But aggressive architectural tactics are just--nasty. There are other ways to create a nice atmosphere. Wouldn't you like to have nice corridors?