Revisiting Utopia: Modernist Architecture in the Post-regenerate City
Tuesday 10th July 2012, 10am-4pm
Revisiting Utopia: Modernist Architecture in the Post-regenerate City
Tuesday 10th July 2012
10am - 4pm
University of Central Lancashire/ Preston Bus Station
(The event will be followed by a wine reception and exhibition opening)
Ticket prices:
Full Price: £25
Students: £15
Tickets include refreshments and lunch at the Olive Press restaurant.
To book a place click here or phone 01772 905414.
This one-day symposium - organised by In Certain Places - will bring together architects, artists, urban planners and people with an interest in the future of cities, to examine the role of architecture in an age of austerity. Employing Preston’s iconic bus station as a case study, the event will explore the Modernist principles that informed the construction of the building during the late 1960s and discuss the architectural impact of recent urban regeneration schemes, such as the planned re-development of Preston city centre that threatened to demolish the bus station. Examining issues of environmental sustainability and the significance of local knowledge, the event will ask to what extent the utopian ideals of Modernism, and the buildings they inspired, might still be relevant within today’s urban landscape.
The symposium will feature talks by architecture writer and Guardian journalist Owen Hatherley, and architect and author Irena Bauman, as well as a chance for delegates to share their own views during a panel debate. The day will also include a bus ride and tour of Preston Bus Station, and a chance to view a new exhibition of some of the many artworks inspired by this distinctive building.
Preston Bus Station was designed by Keith Ingham of Building Design Partnership, and is an example of Brutalist architecture. Completed in 1969, it has 80 bus bays and is the largest bus station in the UK. The building includes a multi-storey carpark and it is linked to other parts of the city centre via subways and an elevated walkway. The building has been threatened with demolition for over ten years, as part of city centre redevelopment plans.
Owen Hatherley was born in Southampton, England in 1981. He received his doctorate in 2011 from Birkbeck College, London for a thesis on ‘The Political Aesthetics of Americanism in Weimar Germany and the Soviet Union, 1919-34′. He works as a freelance writer on architecture and cultural politics, and is the author of four books – Militant Modernism (Zero, 2009), A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain (Verso, 2010), Uncommon – An Essay on Pulp (Zero, 2011), the forthcoming A New Kind of Bleak – Journeys through Urban Britain (Verso 2012), and a forthcoming e-book on squares in Eastern Europe, Across the Plaza (Strelka, 2012).
Irena Bauman is a practicing architect and a cofounder of Bauman Lyons in 1992, Leeds, UK. With her practice she has undertaken a wide range of bespoke projects from small installations to large masterplans. She has worked collaboratively with many artists and writers and aims to combine research with practice in all her work. Her recent projects include a new promenade in Bridlington, mixed use low carbon development in Tower Works, Holbeck as well as a small shelter for walkers in Fridaythorpe. She is currently researching how adoption to Climate Change will impact on building and city design as well as on our behavior. Her book, How to be a Happy Architect was published in 2008.
Click here for a timetable of the day
Click here for a map of the venue for the morning events
Click here for travel information
