Tuesday 10th July
University of Central Lancashire/Preston Bus Station
This
one-day symposium 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 car park on the top, and it is linked to other parts of the city
centre via subways and an elevated walkway. The building, which continues
to make a profit, has been threatened with demolition for over ten years, as
part of city centre redevelopment plans.
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