The modern high street is an ever changing environent, and uncertain times of late have brought about the need for spaces to be adaptable and encompass a persons wellbeing. The high street is the beating heart of many small towns, serving as a central hub for trade, celebration of culture and community, and has the ability to improve the wellbeing of the inhabitants.
Accrington, a once thriving town with key links to the "cottonopolis"of Manchester in the industrial revolution, has it's own beating heart, Blackburn Road. However, it is in need of a revival. Our project aims to rejuvenate this once key hub of the the town, into a modern civic centre.
Our exploration into the revival of Accrington's town centre empowered us to look into the future. We felt indebted to the future inhabitants of this community and developed our own theory of "Raum", where the high street is viewed as a number of spaces with variable uses over time rather than the fixed institutions of old. We focused on three main focal hubs, culminating in a central civic centre, with the goal of reinvigorating the space with a new life force.
We realised that we didn't need to abandoned the past completely, and instead could use some principals of old, drawing inspiration from the Baroque principals of classical Italy. Our interpretation of "modern baroque" could give Accrington a new chapter in it's history.
The amalgomation of historical design principals with a new consciousness towards future use is a principal which we believe is the way forward in town design and continuity of development.
