Old Kings Dock Makes Way for “Moby Dock”

The Kings Waterfront development in Liverpool, England, combines an arena, convention center and exhibit hall. Granite pavers are the hardscape.

Once a major port of call, Liverpool, England began declining in the 1930s. Things went from bad to worse when it was heavily bombed during WWII. In the 1960s, an outpouring of musical talent, aka the Merseybeat, put a focus on Liverpool with a few lads forming groups called the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Today, the city has only half the population it did back in the 1930s, but the city is regenerating itself. In fact, the European Union has designated Liverpool as the 2008 European Capital of Culture, a year for the city to showcase its cultural life and development.

Next to the Albert Dock, the old Kings Dock is being redeveloped as the Kings Waterfront development. Just inaugurated is the Arena & Convention Centre Liverpool, a combination arena (Echo Arena), conference center (BT Convention Centre) and exhibition hall in a single building that from the air looks a bit like an open waffle iron, minus the ridges.

The structure is a nifty bit of engineering—the 1,350—seat auditorium and 18 meeting rooms lie directly above an 80 by 50 meter column-free exhibition hall. Wilkinson Eyre designed the building.

Some Liverpudlians refer to the Centre as “Moby Dock.” The dock is on the Mersey Sound, which you might know from the 1964 song “Ferry ’Cross the Mersey” by Gerry and the Pacemakers. Despite the whale-like proportions of the center, it’s noted that out about midstream on the ferry, Moby Dock does not block the downtown skyline.

EDAW master planned the Kings Waterfront development and Gustafson Porter Ltd., a London landscape architecture firm founded by Kathryn Gustafson and Neil Porter in 1997, designed a plaza paved in grey granite, offset by willow trees. It will serve as an outdoor amphitheatre and market area.