ABSTRACT
I started working in Birmingham in 1998. At the time the city's culture was beginning to emerge from a sluggish period. The Ikon Gallery had just received its lottery grant and a number of new arts organizations were beginning to flourish. Quite early on we visited MAC and The Drum. However, I think it is true to say that the cultural flowering had not become mainstream. Part of the lack of revelation was due to the paucity of architecture in the city. A city expresses itself in its architecture—a crop of new and exiting buildings is one of the easiest ways that a city can show that it is changing. Architecture is a catalyst to change. The physical metamorphosis that Birmingham is now experiencing reflects its economic and cultural renaissance. But back in the mid-1990s the situation was very different. We were working in Saltley and Small Heath in a regeneration area with a very high Asian population. Though only a mile from the City Centre, the area was economically and socially cut off from Birmingham's mainstream.
