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Written for my Undergraduate dissertation in Architectural Studies this piece looks at how the architectural landscape of Newcastle upon Tyne is redefined by the skateboarders who occupy it.
Citation preview
Adam Todhunter
101048532
Newcastle University
ARC3060: Dissertation Studies in Architecture
2014 - 2015
CONTENTS
1) INTRODUCTION 1
2) A BRIEF HISTORY OF SKATEBOARDING 5
3) MAPPING THE SKATEBOARDERS’ CITY 13
4) REDFINING SPACE 32
5) CONCLUSION 46
6) APPENDIX 1 – SKATEBOARDERS OF NEWCASTLE SURVEY
49
7) BIBLIOGRAPHY 59
1
INTRODUCTION
Since the development of the first conventional skateboard in the mid-
1970s1 there has always been a conflict between people riding
skateboards and the public. Whether being regarded as an art form or
an act of vandalism, skateboarding is a controversial use of public
space of negligible benefit to national productivity. However,
skateboarders have an inquisitive nature, constantly seeking the
undiscovered, establishing deep connections to the spaces that make
up the city.
Skateboarding boasts a thriving sub-culture which is rarely
experienced from an outsider’s perspective, and plays a crucial role in
how the city is interpreted. This is evident in Newcastle where groups
of skateboarders, mainly males averaging 18 to 24 years old,2 interact
with the urban landscape, weaving personal routes through the city,
defining spaces, and leaving behind their unique marks on surfaces.
The topic of skateboarding and its relationship to architecture is not
one that has been widely written about, especially on a local scale. It
is a subject that is often misinterpreted by people outside of the
culture, who believe it is a childish activity and nothing more.
However, behind the playful front it has a huge international
community from which both professional skateboarders and hundreds
of different companies thrive.
1 Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2001), p. 19. 2 YouGov Profiles, People who do skateboarding (2014) <https://yougov.co.uk/profiler#/Skateboarding/demographics> [accessed 17 December 2014].
2
The most thorough piece of existing research into the history of
skateboarding, and its context in the modern city is Skateboarding,
Space and the City by Iain Borden. In the book he gives an extensive
overview of the global rise of skateboarding and goes on to explore
the critique of architecture from a skater’s perspective. He discusses
how the sub-culture of skateboarding is interrelated with the activity,
and how through this activity people form intimate relationships with
the micro-spaces they occupy. ‘It addresses the physical architecture
of the modern city yet responds not with another object but with a
dynamic presence’.3 Borden’s research focuses on the global
influences of skateboarding and touches on local scale examples for
reference. In my exploration I will take the ideas of Borden and show
how the skateboarders of Newcastle define their own spaces. By
disregarding the intended use of spaces, skateboarders deconstruct
the city into a series of moments.
In 2010, Playing out: the importance of the city as an informal
skateboard and parkour playground,4 was published at Northumbria
University by Adam Jenson which looked into the culture of
skateboarding and ‘street sports’5 in the city of Newcastle. Jenson
explored the rich culture surrounding these street sports, focusing
mainly on people engaged in the activities of skateboarding and free
running. His research was conducted mainly through interviewing local
people in order to gain a first-hand account of the present and
historical culture.
3 Borden, p. 1. 4 Adam Jenson, Michael Jeffries, Sebastian Messer, Jon Swords, 'Playing Out: The Importance of the City as a Playground for Skateboard and Parkour', Bank Street Occasional Papers, (2013) 5 Jenson, p. 2.
3
What this piece didn’t cover, and which I will explore in my writing, is
the skateboarder’s process of defining locations and the breaking
down of spaces. I will explore what criteria is important in attracting
skateboarders to specific places and not to others, and how their
outlook on the landscape of the city differs to that of an architect or
member of the public. By exploring the intimate relationship between
the skateboarders and the spaces they occupy in Newcastle I will show
how their interactions with the architecture of the city compares to
that of the architect or public.
In this dissertation I am going to explore how through the act of
skateboarding one can appreciate pure form, and show how this is
evident in the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. ‘Skaters are the
sensualists, the kinaesthetic lovers of space and form.’6 Skateboarders
are appreciators of the true form of three dimensional structures. The
potential of the forms of the city which are masked by decorative
facades are actualised through experience, where factors such as
materiality, public movement, light limitations, and space
enforcement play a much more valuable role than intended function,
or aesthetics. In this dissertation I will focus on a few particular spaces
in and around Newcastle city centre which are regularly used by
skateboarders. Through these examples I will explore the themes of
rhythm in motion, reading spaces and the importance of material
details. ‘Details when they are successful, are not mere decoration.
6 Brandon Joyce, Skateboarding, Action, and Architecture (2011) <http://www.lifeactionrevival.org/kinetics/?p=377> [accessed 13 December 2014].
4
They do not distract or entertain. They lead to an understanding of the
whole of which they are an inherent part.’7
Through exploring the potential to map routes through the city at the
speed of the skateboarder I will illustrate the re-imagined hierarchy of
the city’s architecture. By showing how the skateboarder’s
interpretation of architecture at street level compares to that of the
pedestrian and the architect I will show how they truly reimagine the
city. Unconcerned with the capitalist function of the city, the
skateboarder reduces it to a network of space, an urban playground
with infinite opportunities for experiences.
Before analysing the relationship between skateboarding and
architecture in Newcastle, it is first necessary to understand what
skateboarding is and how it has been established in the past century.
The act of skateboarding is not only about the physical activity of riding
through the streets and performing tricks, it is about a process of
learning to read the city and interpret the spaces it provides. It is about
being immersed in a cultural group with a disregard to the capitalist
ideals of the city, forming a social identity outside of the normal, and
being part of a larger group. In the first section I will introduce the brief
history of skateboarding to prepare the reader. By better
understanding the physical act of riding a skateboard one will better
understand how it can be used to read the architecture of the city.
7 Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture, trans. by Catherine Schelbert, 3rd Expanded edn (Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser GmbH, 2010), p. 15.
5
A brief history of skateboarding
A skateboard is comprised of three main components; a deck made of
layered plywood, four urethane wheels, and metal axels called trucks.
The first skateboard was developed in California over the 1930s to
1950s, originating from, as Ian Borden described, makeshift
‘idiosyncratic inventions’8 such as three wheeled scooters. The first
commercial board came in 1956 as the ‘Sidewalk Swinger’. It was a 5
ply deck with spring loaded trucks9 and was followed by many
variations of four wheeled boards that were used to ride down hills.
The 1960s saw a craze start to develop as early models were mass
produced and spread across the USA and to the surf towns of southern
England and Wales. As the skill levels of riders improved so did the
quality and functionality of the board design thus creating a drive for
developing new tricks and building more challenging terrain. By the
1970s10 the activity was much more popular and a standard design of
8 Borden, p. 13. 9 'Trash', in: Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2001), p. 14. 10 Borden, p. 19.
Figure 1, Source: Adam Todhunter
6
a wooden deck, aluminium trucks and urethane wheels had been
reached.
In my writing I am more concerned more with how this development
allowed the mind-set of people riding them to change than the
development of skateboard itself. People began to think in different
ways about riding a skateboard and started questioning the
possibilities of their surroundings. Former professional skateboarder
Jesse Neuhaus said, ‘The corporate types see their structures as
powerful and strong. I see them as something I can enjoy, something I
can manipulate to my advantage.’11
The exploration of the city and natural landscape came before the
mass production of skate facilities. In the 1960 -70s skateboarding was
mainly done by surfers who emulated the style of surfing on land,
riding banked surfaces and transitioned back yard swimming pools in
the same way they would ride waves.12 ‘Cities thus suddenly, it
seemed, obtained ocean-like forms’.13 Skateboarders continued to
discover uses for the non-spaces around them including riding
concrete drainage ditches such as the ‘Toilet Bowl’ in the Hollywood
Hills, a drainage reservoir which formed a shallow concrete bowl.14
However it was the back yard swimming pools that became ‘socio-
spatial boundaries’15 where the presence of a group of people defined
the space as much as the physical structure. Henri Lefebvre recognised
11 Leah Garchik, The Urban Landscape (1994) <http://www.dansworld.com/urban.html> [accessed 24 December 2014]. 12 Borden, p. 29. 13 Borden, p. 33. 14 Skip Smith, in: Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2001), p. 52. 15 Borden, p. 52.
7
this definition of space, saying ‘People use space, and particularly
boundary spaces of passage and encounter, to create their own social
identity, and often do so through spaces of ritual and initiation.’16
By 1975 there were approximately two million skateboarders in
southern California alone.17 With the rise of this global phenomenon
came the creation of expansive purpose built facilities called
skateparks, and with the growing popularity of skateboarding,
skateparks were in high demand. They provided vast playgrounds and
training facilities for beginners and professionals alike.
However, as skateboarders’ talents started to outgrow the facilities,
they were no longer content with the purpose built terrain and their
eyes turned back towards the city. ‘Whatever the challenge it offered,
unlike the urban streets of the city itself, the skate park was always a
consciously provided space, a mental projection and representation of
skateboarding terrain’.18 When regulations were put in place and more
heavily enforced in skateparks, the non-conformist ideology of
skateboarders rejected the institution and this saw a return to the
streets.
Skateboarding was ‘recharged in response to the changing
architectural conditions’.19 The focus returned to the urban landscape,
moving from pools to areas in city centres where skills developed at
skateparks were applied to features of the city. The city provided a
whole range of new elements to be discovered by skateboarders;
16 Henri Lefebvre, Production of Space, trans. by Donald Nicholson-Smith (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Mass, USA: Wiley-Blackwell, 1991), p. 193. 17 La Vada Weir, In: Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2001), p. 57. 18 Borden, p. 131. 19 Borden, p. 176.
8
benches, stairs, handrails, curbs, banks, walls, and ledges. From
jumping down them and over them to grinding rails and edges, the
possibilities opened up by this new way of skateboarding and
interpretation of the city was endless.
The interaction was not just about the newly discovered facilities but
how the skateboarder engaged with and contributed to the social
workings of the city. The city served as a facilitator for social
interactions between groups of skateboarders. Local skateboarder
Ben Armson said, ‘There's a lot of diverse people in the Newcastle
scene but it’s pretty tight, most people know each other and everyone
skates together.’20
The skateboarders’ newly fostered home in the city was not one that
was accepted by all. In the act of skateboarding, particularly when
the metal trucks connect with a material, marks are left, varying in
intensity depending on hardness of material and frequency of use.
These marks are seen by some as vandalism, and provide a motive to
remove skateboarders from the city. ‘Architects have been complicit
with city officials in discouraging skateboarding, from placing
uprights on benches or sticking unsightly “skate-stoppers” on level
surfaces, and demanding their work be experienced as it was
intended.’21
One of the most infamous debates on skateboarders’ controversial
presence in public space is at LOVE Park in Philadelphia, USA, designed
20 Ben Armson, Interviewed by the author, 05/01/2015, See: Appendix 1, p. 6. 21 Vanessa Quirk, Why Skateboarding Matters to Architecture (2012) <http://www.archdaily.com/?p=246526> [accessed 15 December 2014].
9
by architect Edmund Bacon in the 1960s.22 The plaza is a public space
which, since its discovery by the skateboarders of Philadelphia in the
1980s23 has been a cultural hub for local skateboarding as well being
internationally recognised by the skateboarding community. As a
retaliation to skateboarders causing damage to the park,
skateboarding was banned, and fines issued if skateboarders were
caught using the park’s facilities. In an attempt to keep skateboarding
in the park, in 2004 DC Shoe Company offered the local government
one million pounds to account for any damage caused by
skateboarding in the plaza. The reply from Mayor Phil Goldsmith was,
‘There's never going to be any skateboarding in LOVE Park, period.’24
These objections were disregarded by many skateboarders who
continued to use the space despite being aware of legal repercussions.
In a news interview professional skateboarder Josh Kalis stated,
‘You're going to have problems - the kids are going to continue to do
it.’25
22 UShistory.org, Free Love Park, Philadelphia, PA (2003) <http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/index.htm> [accessed 13 December 2014]. 23 Ibid. 24 Carla Anderson, City to boarders and shoe $$: Keep walking (2004) <http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/news/dn060204.htm> [accessed 10 December 2014]. 25 Jacqueline Soteropoulos, Skateboarders Say New Rules Will Not Deter Them Without Alternatives, They Told A Council Panel, Enthusiasts Will Continue To Use, And Perhaps Abuse, Public Spaces. (2000) <http://articles.philly.com/2000-06-14/news/25602892_1_skateboarding-enthusiasts-skateboard-area-love-park> [accessed 10 December 2014].
10
SKATEBOARDING IN THE UK
The late 70s and early 80s saw the skatepark building age, which
helped spread the activity nationwide. The first purpose built concrete
facility in the UK was Skate City in London in 1977, followed by the
construction of more complex parks in the following years.26 Poor
build quality and a fall in popularity meant that most historic parks in
the UK are now demolished or in a state of disrepair.27
The next boom in 1989 saw a resurgence of skateboarding in major
cities across Europe including London, where the collection of banks in
the undercroft of the South Bank Centre played a part in creating a
facility with a sense of community away from the regulated
skateparks.28 Since the 1970s, it has been an iconic cultural hub for
skateboarders and graffiti artists who have claimed ownership of the
space. Mike John said, ‘The heart of London skating is the South Bank.
South Bank has always been much more than a collection of shitty little
banks. It is the heart and mother of English skating.’29
The Skateboarding movement spread outside of London to smaller
towns including Oxford, Newbury, Wakefield, Northampton, Swindon
and Aberdeen. 30 Most cities in the UK had public spaces which acted
26 Borden, p. 69. 27 English Heritage, WHY HAS ENGLISH HERITAGE LISTED A SKATEPARK? (2014) <http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/showcase/heritage-highlights/skatepark> [accessed 26 December 2014]. 28 Tim Leighton-Boyce, UK Skateboarding in the Eighties (1994) <http://www.dansworld.com/brit_sk8.html> [accessed 10 December 2014]. 29 Mike John, in: Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2001), p. 188. 30 Borden, p. 206.
11
as central hubs for skateboarders; Bristo Square in Edinburgh, Urbis in
Manchester, and Lloyds Amphitheatre in Bristol,31 all playing
important roles in promoting an active sub-culture within the city.
In 2014, Norwich council issued a proposal to ban skateboarding in
Norwich city centre saying, ‘It is not safe for fellow citizens walking
around, not fair on the elderly’.32 This debate about skateboarding
legality was triggered by a small percentage of users who showed
disrespect by ‘damaging’ a war memorial, which resulted in the
proposal of an all-out ban in the city centre.
In a reaction to proposals of skateboarding bans such as this one, the
wider skateboarding community has joined together and petitioned to
help preserve the free use of public spaces. In the campaign to
preserve the aforementioned South Bank undercroft, skateboarders
petitioned persistently to protest the redevelopment of the area into
retail units and succeeded in having the area listed as an asset of
community value.33 However the attitude towards skateboarders
varies in each city and as such, is addressed on a local scale.
In the next section I am going to present an interpretation of the
architecture of Newcastle from the perspective of the skateboarders
that inhabit the city. Through mapping a selection of places and routes
31 Rachel Obordo and Guardian readers, Skateboarding areas: readers' stories (2013) <http://gu.com/p/3hq8f> [accessed 26 December 2014]. 32 Sam Russell, Norwich city centre skateboard ban moves a step closer (2014) <http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/norwich_city_centre_skateboard_ban_moves_a_step_closer_1_3657815?action=login> [accessed 10 December 2014]. 33 Long Live Southbank, Long Live Southbank (2014) <http://www.llsb.com/> [accessed 10 December 2014].
12
occupied by skateboarders in Newcastle, I will illustrate how the city’s
architecture is reimagined.
13
MAPPING THE SKATEBOARDERS’ CITY
In this section I will focus on visualising the skateboarder’s
interpretation of the city and spaces that create it. Unlike the
conventional view of Newcastle, the local skateboarders do not see
the high street as a focal point for interaction with the city. The
monumental buildings that stand prominent catch a passing glance
while the marble benches at street level provide a much more
interpretable canvas. Paths through the city are shaped by favoured
locations, the majority of which the average member of the public
passes through, unaware of its significance. Ground texture, cracks
and holes, density of people, natural topography, and lighting, are all
factors which contribute to the appeal of a space. On the subject of
interpreting the city, Henri Lefebvre wrote, ‘Architecturally the city is
reduced to an instrument, a “juxtaposition of spaces, of functions, of
elements on the ground” … the city appears simply as the “likeness of
a sum or combination of elements”’.34
PURPOSE BUILT FACILITIES
In order to better understand why the skateboarder is attracted to the
city it is beneficial to look at the purpose built environments created
to facilitate extreme sports. By comparing the experience of a purpose
built facility to that of undesignated space, it is possible to understand
why skateboarders are attracted the non-purpose built elements in
the city.
34 Henri Lefebvre, Writings on the Cities (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), p. 127.
14
For some skateboarders the skatepark can be a comfortable
environment, especially for those new to skateboarding and those
who focus more on riding ramps, a terrain that cannot be found in the
city. In rock climbing for example, one begins by learning on a purpose
built training wall, which makes it easy to learn technique in a safe
environment. As more skills are learned, one seeks more challenging
terrain, eventually climbing natural rock faces. He is now in control of
how he experiences space. In the same way as the rock climber
progresses from a safe environment to a natural one as his
competencies increase, so too does the skateboarder progress from
the skatepark to the city.
For those who prefer ‘street skating’ the skatepark will never replace
what the city provides. The skatepark leaves little opportunity for
individual interpretation as they are designed with a preconceived
idea of how each detail is to be used nor is there the sense of the
wonder or discovery that is offered by the city. As Borden mentions,
‘even the more challenging skateparks, ultimately were still a
consciously provided space.’35 The skatepark is a representation of the
institution, which skateboarding ideology dismisses on account of its
capitalist principals.
Exhibition Skatepark in Newcastle city centre is a purpose built
facility for skateboarding and other extreme sports. A location
favoured by some and loathed by others, this park represents a
different ideology to that of the street skateboarder. Jenson
touched on the reasoning behind the construction of a skatepark in
Newcastle saying, ‘The building of a skate park on the periphery of
the city centre was as much a device to get skaters out of the city
35 Borden, p. 131.
15
centre as an asset to skaters.’36 This attitude towards isolating the
skateboarders from the city is another reason for their dismissal of
the skatepark and continued occupation of the city as an anti-
institutional retaliation.
A successful example of a purpose built facility can be found south of
the river in Gateshead. Originally the space beneath a road bridge was
used by skateboarders who would ride the banks and curbs.
Gateshead council recognised that the constant presence of
skateboarders created a safer space for passers-by and saw an
opportunity to develop the area by building skateboard facilitates on
the site. This unusual example of hybrid found space and provided
space, now referred to as Five Bridges, is regarded neither as a
36 Jenson,p. 2.
Figure 2, Exhibition Skatepark, Source: Adam Todhunter
16
skatepark nor a true ‘street spot’ but is still frequented regularly by the
skateboarders of Tyneside and appreciated for its street roots.
In terms of the individual objects in the skatepark, the obstacles are
seen as devices, each with a specific possibility for performing tricks.
To passers-by, Five Bridges or Exhibition skatepark are no more than
spaces populated by extruding objects of no desirable use. But the
space belongs to the skateboarders; no one outside of the skill can
leave their mark on it or appreciate the space at the same intimate
level.
I will now explore how skateboarders occupy the non-purpose built
architecture of the Newcastle, and how through defining architecture
according to its physical potential the skateboarders actualise the
possibilities of space.
Figure 3, Five Bridges, Source: Adam Todhunter
17
GREY’S MONUMENT
One of the most popularly frequented spaces in Newcastle by
skateboarders is the area surrounding Grey’s Monument. The area is
a central hub of Newcastle, an area populated by shoppers and
commuters. By reading the skateboarders’ occupation of this space we
are able to see how they experience the architecture through an
Figure 4, Sketches of Grey’s Monument showing areas used by skateboarders, Source: Adam Todhunter
18
alternative rhythm to that of those in, as French scholar Michel de
Certeau said, ‘the act of passing by’.37
The two-stepped plinth of the statue is often used by the public for
seating on a sunny day. For the skateboarder however, even
something as simple as two stepped plinth becomes a diverse
playground which is used for performing tricks on and off. The
smoothly paved streets provide a perfect surface to roll on with large
37Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, ed. by Luce Giard, trans. by Steven Rendall (London, England: University of California press, 1984), p. 97.
Figure 5, Skateboarders’ map of Grey’s Monument, Source: Adam Todhunter
19
slabs providing a wider distribution of cracks and therefore a smoother
ride as highlighted in Figure 4. Danish architect, Steen Eiler Rasmussen
observed, ‘It is difficult to explain why minute differences in textural
character, barely enough to be measured by scientific instruments,
affect us so strongly’.38
A repeatedly used part of the site is a sloped area with marble benches
as seen in Figure 4, image 4, which has been drawn to illustrate the
movement of skateboarders. The streets are furnished with a series of
marble benches which are perfectly distributed to perform tricks on,
one after another. The sloped site changes the activity of
skateboarding from pushing around a flat space to being pulled down
a hill by gravity, thus forcing the skateboarder to experience the space
rhythmically.
Unlike level areas which are experienced according to the individual,
this space forces the skateboarder in a linear direction, limiting the
experience, similar to the way a skier uses gravity to navigate their way
down a mountain. The skateboarder rides down the hill performing
tricks on the benches one after another and only stops when they fall
off or reach the road which runs perpendicular to the space.
Rhythmically, the skateboarder dismounts, walks back to the top and
then repeats the movement.
Though there are multiple benches placed around the site as seen
illustrated in Figure 5, the focus of the skateboarder lies mainly on two
sequential benches. One reason for this could be because of the marks
on the edges left by skateboarders who have come before. These same
marks which by some are interpreted as vandalism are used by
38 Steen Eiler Rasmussen, Experiencing Architecture, 2nd edn (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1962), p. 163.
20
skateboarders for reading the space. They act as markers left by
previous skateboarders which can be read to determine the best
places to perform tricks. Rasmussen notes, ‘Usually it is easier to
perceive a thing when we know something about it beforehand.’39
39 Rasmussen, p. 36.
21
THE JOURNEY BETWEEN THE CIVIC CENTRE AND THE
LAING ART GALLERY
By looking at the route from the Civic Centre to the Laing Art Gallery,
a different way in which architecture is experienced by skateboarders
can be illustrated, one that is more focused on the movement
between a collection of spaces in the city as opposed to prolonged
occupation of a single space.
The mapped route illustrated in Figure 6 shows both a literal map
(right) and a map illustrating where the focus of the skateboarder lies
whilst traveling along this route (left). This route demonstrates the
skateboarder’s focus while walking this path through the city. As
shown in Figure 6 the skateboarder travels between a series of
moments, varying in potential and interest.
These individual spaces in the city are different to the Grey’s
Monument where the space can be occupied for a long period of time.
On this route, the skateboarder instead spends shorter bursts of time
in one space, and moves from place to place, a movement more
comparable to the behaviour of a window shopper than the
movement experienced by skateboarders at Grey’s Monument.
23
Figure 7, images 1, 2 and 3, show the Civic Centre, a historically
monumental building in Newcastle which holds an alternative
importance for the skateboarders of Newcastle. The skateboarders
jump up and down the steps at the front of the building, navigating
between the sections of bumped floor as illustrated in Figure 7, images
1 and 2. The raised platform, which acts as a border of the Civic Centre,
is also used to perform tricks, despite an attempt to deter
skateboarders by installing ‘skate stoppers’.
The main point that can be shown by looking at the skateboarders’
occupation of these spaces is how use of space can be constrained to
within a specific timeframe. When asked about when the best time to
skate at the Civic Centre is, local skateboarder Daniel Main said, ‘Night
time or a Sunday. The security don't take kindly to skateboarders.’40
Despite this, the skateboarders continue to persevere and use the
space outside of working hours.
The other spaces illustrated along this route are also restricted
temporally. The gap from car park to pavement in front of the office
building (Figure 7, image 4) can only be used when the building is
closed, the banks (Figure 7, images 5 and 6) can only be ridden when
the road is quiet enough, and the spaces in front of the library and
Laing Art Gallery (Figure 7, images 7 and 8) can only be used when
there are not too many people passing through.
40 Daniel Main, Interviewed by the author, 05/01/2015, See: Appendix 1, p. 8.
24
Figure 7, Sketches along the route, highlighting the skateboarders’ focus, Source: Adam Todhunter
25
Figure 7 shows locations encountered on the skateboarders’ journey
between two popularly used spaces. A diverse collection of banks,
gaps, rails, and ledges are offered, all unrelated features which are
only linked by the skateboarders’ path. The images highlight which
components of the architecture the skateboarders are concerned
with. There is no interest behind the high street façade and immediate
materiality and shapes become more prominent. Rasmussen said ‘The
act of re-creation is common to all observers; it is the activity that is
necessary in order to experience the thing seen.’41
Here, the hierarchy of architecture is recreated according to the
features that that will directly affect how one rides a skateboard. The
skateboarder’s responsive assessment of usable space, and complete
disregard for the unused, is a relationship with architecture
unexperienced by the passive pedestrians in the city.
German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, argued that ‘things’ should
be seen as more than mere objects, and should be valued through
practical use. Adam Sharr observed this in Heidegger for Architects,
saying ‘For Heidegger, the purity, beauty and timelessness of the
visual idea remained secondary, far removed from daily practicalities
of use.’42
41 Rasmussen, p. 36. 42 Adam Sharr, Heidegger for Architects (London: Routledge, 2007), p. 29.
26
THE QUAYSIDE AND THE LAW COURTS
The journey along the quayside and the Law Courts building offers an
opportunity to explore how the physical constants of a space can both
influence and constrain a skateboarder’s interpretation.
I am going to focus on the Law Courts, which is a location visited
frequently by skateboarders, and which demonstrates the importance
of the material details of a space. The Law Courts is used in two
sections. One is a mellow area with small stairs and a grindable ledge,
and the other consists of two sets of eight stairs in a row (Figure 8),
more challenging terrain for only the more advanced skateboarders.
Figure 8, Skateboarding at the Law Courts, Source: Adam Todhunter
28
The space is read not only by the features such as the stairs which are
of direct interest to the skateboarders but also by the elements that
dictate the physical boundaries. Rasmussen observed this
independent understanding of architecture saying, ‘There is no
objectively correct idea of a thing’s appearance, only an infinite
number of subjective impressions of it.’43 Elements which are seen as
having no direct use indirectly determine how the space is moved
through.
43 Rasmussen, p. 36.
Figure 10, sketches of the quayside, Source: Adam Todhunter
29
The handrails, cracks at the top of stairs, and supporting columns all
define the physical restrictions of the space. Jane Rendell stated, ‘The
rules have already been established; rules about site and space; about
permanence, structure and stability.’44Although interpretations can be
made, one is confined to physical limits of architecture.
The two large sets of stairs are a perfect distance apart in order to land
a trick down the first set and prepare to perform another trick down
the second set. The Law Courts stairs are well known nationally due to
magazine and video coverage, and are tackled by many who visit the
city. When asked about skateboarding at the Law Courts, local
skateboarder Will Creswick said, ‘It is a mark for progression in the
city.’45
When the law courts were featured in Playing Out, one local
skateboarder was quoted saying ‘How long [have the] Law Courts been
around? Years. If you look at the floor all you see is a couple of
scratches.’46 The absence of permanent visual damage might have
played a part in the fact that skateboarders and the public can coexist
in such a law-conscious space.
Heidegger argued the significance of understanding architecture is
less through technical and aesthetic value but more how it is
44 Jane Rendell , 'doing it, (un)doing it, (over)doing it yourself rhetorics of architectural abuse', in Occupying Architecture, ed. by Jonathan Hill(London: Routledge, 1998), p. 232 45 Will Creswick, Interviewed by the author, 05/01/2015, See: Appendix 1, p. 1. 46 Adam Jenson, Michael Jeffries, Sebastian Messer, Jon Swords, 'Playing Out: The Importance of the City as a Playground for Skateboard and Parkour', Bank Street Occasional Papers, (2013), p. 3.
30
experienced, Sharr observed, ‘through the tactile, cognitive and
sociological familiarity of things. A thing is enmeshed in existence,
bound with intricacies of life’s daily experiences.’47 This experienced
definition is rarely the one that the architect associates themselves
with. He goes on to say, ‘architects and historians tended to judge
architecture more according to aesthetic priorities and less according
to the priorities of people who make and inhabit places for
themselves.’48 This leads on to the next section where I will explore
where the skateboarder sits in the architect’s theory of the city and
occupied space.
47 Sharr, p. 35. 48 Sharr, p. 37.
32
REDEFINING SPACE
In this section I am going to break down the skateboarders’ experience
of architecture and space through an architect’s reading of the city.
Architect and urban planner, Steen Eiler Rasmussen, was interested in
the lived experience of architecture and the objects that consume our
lives. In Experiencing Architecture, he provides an insight into what it
is to create and experience architecture for people outside of an
architectural education. He explores an analogy of learning to
experience space from infancy, and demonstrates how one learns to
experience architecture. I will compare his definition of experiencing
architecture with the experience of the skateboarders of Newcastle.
Both the architect and the skateboarder are at a heightened position
in terms of how they can critique architecture. The architect is trained
to think about the wider implications of design and thus views
architecture with a pre-existing understanding of space. The
skateboarder learns to physically experience architecture and thus
experience their surroundings with a similar heightened awareness.
PERSONAL SKILLS
In his analogy of learning to experience space in infancy, Rasmussen
writes, ‘In his helplessness, the baby begins by tasting things, touching
them[…] He quickly learns to use all sorts of contrivances and thereby
avoids some of the more unpleasant experiences.’49 A new
skateboarder, like a child, needs to find his balance and become
comfortable. He must learn how the board turns and reacts to
materials and speed. The skateboarder quickly learns which materials
49 Rasmussen, p. 15.
33
provide an unpleasant experience and which are ‘rideable’. At first, the
skateboarder is constrained by their ability, but the more adept they
become, the more effectively they can use the space. They are aware
of how high they can jump, how long they can grind, and how fast they
can ride. This process of defining personal limits builds a general idea
of what to look for in spaces in terms of texture, size, materiality and
speed, especially so in undefined space where the pre-defined
obstacles of the skatepark do not exist. As skills develop and the limits
are pushed, more opportunities are possible, and the desire for
pushing oneself to engage with more challenging and less obvious
terrain grows.
INTERPRETATION
The child becomes quite adept in the employment of these things. He
seems to project his nerves, all his senses, deep into the lifeless
objects. Confronted by a wall which is so high that he cannot reach up
to feel the top, he nevertheless obtains an impression of what it is like
by throwing his ball against it. In this way he discovers that it is
entirely different from a tautly stretched piece of canvas. With the
help of the ball he receives an impression of the hardness and solidity
of the wall.
By a variety of experiences he quite instinctively learns to judge things
according to weight, solidity, texture, heat conducting ability.50
By feeling the texture of the ground beneath the wheels and the
changing resistance of the different surfaces encountered, the
skateboarder learns more about the space than someone who only
visually assesses the same space. Paths are formed by moving
50 Rasmussen, p. 15.
34
rhythmically through a space, mapping small details such as cracks in
the floor, and thus working out which places to avoid. The process of
documenting a space by experience is place specific. One can learn to
generalise in terms of how certain materials react, but elements such
as cracks, rough patches, and pedestrian routes are determined on a
place specific basis.
Before throwing a stone he first gets the feel of it, turning it over and
over until he has the right grip on it, and then weighing it in his hand.
After doing this often enough, he is able to tell what a stone is like
without touching it at all.51
For skateboarders the process of understanding materiality is a
complex process. Ideally sought-after materials, such as ‘marble,
granite, and tarmac’,52 which provide minimal friction are a key factor
in whether or not a space can be occupied. Concrete and timber
objects have factors that cannot be predetermined by a quick visual
assessment and have to be experienced physically. Rasmussen noted,
‘Materials are judged not only by their surface appearance’.53 Softer
wood and concretes are bad materials for grinding tricks due to the
metal trucks chipping away or digging into the material, therefore
structures around the city made from these materials are avoided.
51 Rasmussen, p. 18. 52Will Creswick, Interviewed by the author, 05/01/2015, See: Appendix 1, p. 2. 53 Rasmussen, p. 182.
35
The Haymarket monument (Figure 11) has long been used by
skateboarders who perform tricks in various ways, jumping on and off
the steps at the base of the monument. To the untrained eye, the steps
appear as if their edges can used to perform grinding tricks. However
due to the soft nature of the stone, performing any tricks that grind
against the edge of the material are not possible. This is evident in
Figure 11, as seen, previous attempts have left sizeable chips.
Even harder wood and concrete fluctuate in how they react to a
skateboard. Exterior finish, angle of edges, and weathering are all
factors which effect the experience. Frequency of use also plays a key
role in experiencing the materiality as overuse can sometimes leave a
material exhausted, to avoid this, skateboarders apply a thin coat of
wax to the edge of an object to act as a lubricant and reduce the
friction between the board and the surface, allowing for a more
pleasant experience, but increasing the markings left behind.
Rasmussen discussed the idea of architecture as an indivisible entity,
saying, ‘His [a man to whom he was explaining a project] reluctance
may have arisen from the correct idea of architecture as something
indivisible, something you cannot separate into a number of elements
Figure 11, Images of the Haymarket monument, Source: Adam Todhunter
36
[...] it is something else and something more.’54 The skateboarder’s
process of breaking down spaces disagrees with the suggestion of
indivisible architecture. For the skateboarder, one of the principal
steps in analysing a space is working out how to define individual
elements, reducing the space to a simplified grid. By disregarding the
intended use of the space, the skateboarder is able to reinterpret the
architecture to pure geometric form, breaking down the space and
connecting elements that are otherwise functionally unrelated.
EXPERIENCING SPACE THROUGH A TOOL
Each one [a tool] seems to have its own personality which fairly
speaks to us like a helpful friend, and each implement has its own
particular effect upon our minds. […] In this way, man first puts his
stamp on the implements he makes and thereafter the implements
exert their influence on man. They become more than purely useful
articles. Besides expanding our field of action, they increase our
vitality.55
By further exploring the how the use of a tool can expand one’s realm
of possibility, we are able to see how the skateboard as a tool can
enhance ones sensory experience of space. The skateboard acts as an
externalised body, creating potential in otherwise inanimate objects.
By kicking a ball against a wall or harnessing the wind with a kite, a tool
is serving as a mechanism to gain something from nothing.
Thinking of a skateboard as a tool does not provide a linear solution
such as a kite in the wind, but instead opens up an infinite number of
solutions to experiencing a space. It is dependent on a number of
54 Rasmussen, p. 9. 55 Rasmussen, p. 30.
37
individual factors such as what tricks a skateboarder can do, how high
he can jump, and what he enjoys doing, which effects how the spaces
are personally defined.
READING SPACE
As previously mentioned, for some, the marks left behind on surfaces
through the act of skateboarding are seen as vandalism, but for the
skateboarders they are a historical account of how others have
previously used the same space. Marks are created when the trucks
grind against an edge, the wax used by the skateboarders to reduce
friction is worn onto the fabric of the material, or skid marks are left
by the wheels. They are all forms of markings which can be used by
other skateboarders to read the space.
Figure 12 shows an example of a marked space in Newcastle. The
marks can be read to determine how frequently the space is used,
which parts are used most, and for how long it has been used. Known
as ‘Quayside ledge’ by the skateboarders of Newcastle, this space
illustrates how marks can be used to read the space. The far left image
shows much more intense marks than the far right image, signalling a
well-used surface compared to the lesser marked ledge which offers
little immediate interest, but provides a blank canvas to be
interpreted.
38
Existing marks on the surfaces influence the skateboarders’ idea of
what is usable, they will naturally migrate towards marked areas
rather than using a space with unknown properties. Rasmussen
touched on the factors which affect our impressions, saying, ‘What
impression [a work of art] makes depends not only on the work of art
but to a great extent on the observer’s susceptibility. His mentality, his
education, his entire environment’.56 This is also true in terms of how
places are read and defined as part of a group. Michel de Certeau
understood, ‘Their intertwined paths give their shape to spaces. They
[the pedestrians] weave places together.’57 There is less emphasis on
individual movement and more emphasis on sharing the space,
moving in more regular, predictable patterns in order to avoid conflict
with others.
56 Rasmussen, p. 36. 57 de Certeau, p. 97.
Figure 12, Quayside ledges, Source: Adam Todhunter
39
MAPPING MOVEMENT IN THE CITY
In analysing how the activity of skateboarding relates to the larger
context, it is important to acknowledge the significance of both the
masses and the individual who collectively occupy the city. Michel de
Certeau’s Practice of Everyday Life explores how social representation
and modes of social behaviour are used by individuals and groups. In
examining the masses who occupy the city, he draws on the
importance of private meanings to the individual who is ‘trying to
retain a fundamental sense of themselves from the omnipresent forces
of commerce, politics and culture.58 The breaking down of personal
relationships with the architecture of the city explored by de Certeau
is both evident, and also challenged by skateboarding culture.
At street level the city is occupied by individuals, but when viewed at
a larger scale they become streams of constant flow, representing
mass movement in the city. De Certeau defined this movement in the
city, stating, ‘They [the pedestrians] cannot be counted because each
unit has a qualitative character: a style of tactile apprehension and
kinaesthetic appropriation. Their swarming mass is an innumerable
collection of singularities.’ 59
Contrary to the mass movement of the public, the skateboarders’
position in the city can be mapped in a much more comprehensive
way. Instead of defining movement through the act of passing by, the
movement is based on rhythm and repetition. ‘They transform the
scene, but they cannot be fixed in a certain place by images’.60 The
skateboarders, unlike the ‘walkers’61 can occupy a single space for
58 de Certeau, back cover. 59 de Certeau, p. 97. 60 de Certeau, p. 102. 61 de Certeau, p. 93.
40
prolonged periods of time, which means that they can be captured at
stationary positions. This is evident at the aforementioned Grey’s
Monument, the Law Courts, and the Civic Centre, where the same
space can be occupied by skateboarders for hours at a time.
At this fixed position in a city in motion, the skateboarders are at a
unique position to map public movement. By seeing not individuals,
but a constant flow of people passing by, assessment can be made on
how the density of people varies in place and time, and whether the
coexistence of skateboarders and public is feasible. De Certeau states,
‘The moving about that the city multiplies and concentrates makes the
city itself an immense social experience of lacking a place.’62 The
skateboarders who find stationary moments, find their place in the
city.
The public movement through the area surrounding the Grey’s
Monument in the day is a complex system of weaving paths (Figure
13) between the metro station and various shops, making
skateboarding very challenging as the main desirable routes (Figure
14) cross those of the public. The enjoyment of skateboarding is
about undertaking a free flowing movement, and not being
overwhelmed by the overcrowded city which is illustrated in Figure
15. When asked about what time skateboarders use the space local
skateboarder Will Creswick, said ‘In the evening while town
transitions from shopping to clubbing - usually between 6-8.63
62 de Certeau, p. 103. 63 Will Creswick, Interviewed by the author, 05/01/2015, See: Appendix 1, p. 1.
41
Figure 13. Pedestrian flow Figure 14. Skateboarder flow
Figure 15, Time-lapse of the monument, Source: Adam Todhunter
42
CROSSING BOUNDARIES
The walker actualizes some of these possibilities. In that way he
makes them exist as well as emerge. But he also moves them about
and he invents others…64
De Certeau refers to the ‘pedestrian speech act’,65 the suggestion
that through walking, the individual enunciates their position, leaving
their marks on the city. I agree with this theory when looking at
movement on a mass scale, however, when looking at the movement
of the individual walking through the city, their challenge to the
boundaries of space is of an unintrusive approach. Though the walker
can defy social boundaries by walking away from the path or jumping
a wall, the material boundaries of space are not defied. ‘The average
pedestrian experiences architecture at a casual and indirect level, one
that places architecture in the background of the user.’66
Ron Allen wrote in skateboard magazine, Slap, ‘Benches, banks, and
smooth pavement are what skaters really like. Citizens use some of
these elements every day, almost to the point of excess, but still have
no appreciation for the structure itself ‘. 67 He reinforces the
suggestion that only through the use of a tool can the boundaries of
a space or object truly be questioned at a physical level. The
64 de Certeau, p. 98. 65 de Certeau, p. 97. 66 Bobby Young, 'A Skateboarder's Guide to Architecture or an Architect's Guide to Skateboarding', The Kids are Alright, 3.4, in Loud Paper <http://www.loudpapermag.com/articles/a-skateboarders-guide-to-architecture-or-an-architects-guide-to-skateboarding> [accessed 29 December 2014]. 67 Ron Allen, in: Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2001), p. 188.
43
possibilities of challenging boundaries are fully actualised by the
skateboarders, and inanimate objects are given a new significance.
The rock climber drills into the cliff face and leaves their mark, as
opposed to a free climber who climbs the face leaving no evidence
behind. In the same way, the skateboarder leaves their mark on the
city, while the walker leaves little physical evidence to be questioned.
The social boundaries that are constructed within the city encourage
classifying spaces by their purpose. ‘He [the user of the city] condemns
certain places to inertia or disappearance and composes with others
special “turns of phrase” that are “rare,” “accidental” or illegitimate.’68
Recognising certain places and disregarding others is a process carried
out by both the skateboarders and the walkers of the city. Although in
most cases there is a fundamental difference in how spaces are
classified, and what is of interest varies, there is a defined hierarchy of
spaces.
In an opposing position to the mass movement, skateboarders often
revive the lost relics to the city, and disregard the mainstream. The top
two images in Figure 16 show Pilgrim Street and the White Blocks, two
places which have seemingly been erased from the public map of
Newcastle, but which the skateboarders still profoundly value. Pilgrim
Street is a set of stairs which has now been isolated due to the
demolition of a high level walkway, the White Blocks are a sequence
of platforms outside of the city centre which serve no obvious purpose
other than for the skateboarders to perform tricks jumping from one
to another. Local skateboarder, Bryan was quoted in Playing Out,
68de Certeau, p. 99.
44
saying, ‘You can just find something no one wants, no use and you can
turn it into something.’69
Even in occupied spaces, the process of disregarding elements is
unconsciously done by the public. In front of The Newcastle Public
Library, as seen in the bottom image of Figure 16, there is a pathway
divided by low walls. For pedestrians these act as nothing more than a
69 Jenson, p. 4.
Figure 16, images of
Newcastle,
Source: Adam Todhunter
45
division of space. The skateboarder sees them and thinks about width,
height, length, and how close they are to each other, a set of defining
factors which play a minor role in the public perception of this space.
In a culture stuck on cruise control, the other skater chooses to operate
in a forgotten no-man’s land. In fact the skater thrives on using the
discarded, abandoned and generally disregarded portions and
structures of the society at large.70
Parts of the city centre such as Northumberland Street and other main
shopping streets are disregarded by skaters. The densely populated
areas most popular with consumers offer little or no opportunity for
stationary moments. The street is designed for the act of passing by,
with the heart of consumerist activities occurring behind the street
façade. Skateboarders disregard the idea of the façade and are much
more interested in the human scale aspects of architecture at ground
level.
By this process of refinement, architecture is reduced to pure
geometric forms, the city above street level is distilled to a silhouette.
The façades which usually play a key role in how the individual reads
the building context for an insight to their functions offer little
information and relevance to the skateboarders.
70 Lowboy, in: Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2001), p. 188.
46
Conclusion
Throughout this dissertation I have illustrated how skateboarding
engages with architecture. The occupation of the city by skateboarders
of Newcastle argues that it is possible for people other than architects
to ‘do’ architecture. In reimagining the architecture of Newcastle, the
skateboarders are practicing architecture. They imagine the city in a
completely new light, a city that coexists alongside that of the public
and the architect’s city. When discussing the longevity of doing
architecture Jane Rendell said, ‘Architecture is physically made by
builders, and long after the building has been made the non-architects
continuously do architecture.’71
The skateboarders disregard for capitalist ideals of the city puts them
in a unique position where pre-existing ideas of function and hierarchy
are dismissed in favour of physical characteristics. By reducing space
to pure geometric forms the skateboarder is truly experiencing the
architecture, not in terms of the design purpose, but in challenging the
potential of the physical possibilities of space. All of the locations in
Newcastle that I have discussed in this piece are experienced in a way
that was not foreseen in the architect’s design.
Through showing how influential architecture is for skateboarders in
how they actualise the potential of their surroundings, the opposite
becomes apparent; skateboarding can be influential to architecture.
The architect can learn from the skateboarder. In Bobby Young’s A
Skateboarder’s Guide to Architecture, he acknowledged, ‘We [the
architects] have to attempt to document these dynamic relationships
between the architecture and its user. Last, we need to utilize these
documents to begin to create a space that holds the possibility of
71 Rendell, p. 232
47
improvisation by the user.’72 I believe that the future of architecture is
creating more dynamic spaces. By trying to deter the happenings of
the city nothing will be consensually achieved. The future is to realise
the potential for space and promote improvisational use.
Although my source of skateboarding culture in Newcastle is from
first-hand knowledge as well as surveys with local skateboarders, it is
impossible to represent every skateboarder. The information in this
dissertation expresses the opinions of the skateboarding majority,
however, there are many different groups who may orientate their
experience with different weighting on different places. This highlights
the diverse culture and nonlinear approach to using architecture.
The skateboarder’s intimate connection with spaces in Newcastle
reinforces a thriving sub-culture and sense of heritage towards
otherwise unexperienced elements of the city. They develop rhythmic
motion through space and map areas according to an extensive
criteria, appreciating the true physical detail of the space. Unlike the
passive relationship the average individual has with architecture, the
skateboarders, along with others who interpret through use of tools,
are in a position of amplified possibilities.
By mapping the skateboarder’s city I have shown how the city is
reduced to series of moments, a series of stationary points, which put
the skateboarders at an advantaged point to map not only their own
interpretations of space but also how the public move through the city
in the act of passing by.
72 Young, [accessed 29 December 2014].
50
Name Will Creswick
Date 03/01/2015
Which “street spots” do you visit most frequently in Newcastle?
Law Courts, Civic Centre, Uni Ledges, Haymarket
What are the most famous skateboarding spots in Newcastle and why?
Queens banks has a long list of ABDs (Already Been Done) making it a famous spot in town and has been skated by many different generations. Law Courts has this is common and is a mark for progression in the city
Why do you use Wax?
Wax is used to coat the part of the ledge acting as a lubricant, reducing the friction between said ledge, allowing the board to slide and perform grinds
What is there to skate at greys monument?
A platform varying in size making it accessible for all kinds of skaters. The small ledge that goes to a big 2 stair gives the spot more possibilities. There are also surrounding marble benches
When do you skate at greys monument?
Usually skated in the evening while town transitions from shopping to clubbing/ Usually between 6-8
What is there to skate at the civic centre?
A 5 stair with ledges either side. A long three stair with a small bank and also an inclined manual pad.
51
When is best to skate at the civic centre and why?
The evening is usually best when less people are coming in and out. Security always kick you out in the day.
What materials do you look for in a skate spot?
Marble granite or Tarmac, usually for smooth floor and grinds. However a variety makes a spot interesting.
What is the skateboarding culture like in Newcastle?
It’s fairly similar to other big cities in the UK in the way that people are always filming videos and a lot of this revolves around their local skate shop. Also the city is always developing and this effects how people in the city skate.
52
Name Jack Veitch
Date 05/01/2015
Which “street spots” do you visit most frequently in Newcastle?
We usually just go wherever everyone wants to skate, some spots what come to mind when I think of Newcastle skateboarding are hay market 3, civic centre, china town ledge, church ledge, St James carpark slappy curbs & the whole uni is full with spots.
What are the most famous skateboarding spots in Newcastle and why?
Smack head double set is one of the most famous spots of Newcastle in my opinion, it's a 3 set flat 3 double set, I thought it was mental when one of the homies tried to Ollie it then someone told me about Scott cherry switch heel flipping it back in the day & blew my mind, there's also Law Courts, smack head 10 & the leap of faith which is the biggest ledge I've seen in my life 3
Why do you use Wax?
I use wax so my trucks are nice & lubed up for those 50 50s
What is there to skate at greys monument?
At greys monument there is a 2 set, 2 marble benches & the metro wall border which will Creswick somehow managed to shred!
53
When do you skate at greys monument?
Usually if we are out skating town we end up at monument close to the end of a session because everyone can skate it & it's right next to the metro
What is there to skate at the civic centre?
The civic centre has a lot if shit to skate, there's a longish small 3 set, a bank going up the 3 for disabled access or something which is good to play around on, civic 8 stairs, a gnarly hubba with skate stoppers in front of it & allot of other random stuff to shred
When is best to skate at the civic centre and why?
I'm not sure if there is a certain time to skate civic to be honest I've been kicked out more times I've skated there, the security are angry little specimens there's no chance of talking them into letting you skate
What materials do you look for in a skate spot?
In a skate spot I look for smooth ground, a nice little stair set to mess around on, a ledge/manny pad of some sort, lights & a good area so night skating doesn't feel sketchy
What is the skateboarding culture like in Newcastle?
The skate scene in Newcastle is sick! Everyone knows everyone nobody cares if you're not up to their level of radness & all the sick people I've befriended just from coming out & sharing the same passion for skating.
54
Name Ben Armson
Date 05/01/2015
Which “street spots” do you visit most frequently in Newcastle?
Monument, Newcastle college, Newcastle uni, smooth path haha, civic
What are the most famous skateboarding spots in Newcastle and why?
Law courts stairs a lot of people have done a lot of different stuff there so to do something new there is pretty hard so it's seen as kind of a measure of how good a person is or gap to bench is also seen like that.
Why do you use Wax?
Waxing something makes it easier to slide or grind that particular obstacle stopping friction, a lot of skate able obstacles can only be skated with the aid of wax.
What is there to skate at greys monument?
The marble benches are very appealing to skaters for grinds and slides the actual monument itself is good for doing tricks down the stair set towards grey street.
When do you skate at greys monument?
Usually in the evening or on Sunday's when's it’s a little quieter there's quite a lot of people passing by in the day so it makes it hard to skate.
What is there to skate at the civic centre?
A small stair set a small bank cut into the stairs a larger stair set round the other side of the building.
55
When is best to skate at the civic centre and why?
Civic is a little quieter than a lot of spots so you can skate in the day but there are security guards that kick you out so again it's better to skate in the evening or night I you want longer.
What materials do you look for in a skate spot?
In general just a smooth surface each material usually offered different possibilities/tricks.
What is the skateboarding culture like in Newcastle?
There's a lot of diverse people in the Newcastle scene but it’s pretty tight, most people know each other and everyone skates together.
56
Name Daniel Main
Date 09/01/2015
Which “street spots” do you visit most frequently in Newcastle?
5 bridges - originally a street spot with a single bank and flat ground. Still keeping the street skaters alive through the North East weather!
What are the most famous skateboarding spots in Newcastle and why?
The original Haymarket ledges (RIP) - best place to hang and meet the homies on a weekend. The old University setup used to be sick until they renovated the whole area and skate stopped the whole place. Newcastle college before they skate stopped everything. China town ledges used to be a sick warm up spot after hitting native being so close. And Of Course the law courts. I used to love throwing myself down the 8 stairs although times change and you realise you're not the young spring chicken you once were. Still plenty of good times at that place!
Why do you use Wax? I don't use wax it's for bandits
What is there to skate at greys monument?
The manny pad with the two set at the end of it at monument is decent but I just don't see the point in skating the ledges because they don't grind. Maybe I should start using wax? Ha ha.
57
When do you skate at greys monument?
Once or twice a year or when people drag me there.
What is there to skate at the civic centre?
Civic centre is pretty good but normally a bust. Pretty fun 3 set with bank and an 8 set around the corner. Recently people have skated the top step into the bank.
When is best to skate at the civic centre and why?
Night time or a Sunday. The security don't take kindly to skateboarders’ e.g. Buster Caulker ending up in court over some bullshit.
What materials do you look for in a skate spot?
Manny pads are my favourite spot to skate so if a spot has one or something along those lines I can have a lot more fun. Or maybe a ledge manny pad combo! Banks are a must too. Anything marble or metal.
What is the skateboarding culture like in Newcastle?
The skate scene in Newcastle for me isn't as good as it used to be when I first started. I remember at least 30+ being on a sesh at one point and now you struggle to get a handful. All the best dudes though and everyone feeds off each other. Definitely still the best scene from anywhere I've visited in the U.K. though.
59
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