Swinton Precinct (Reimagined): A 60s Living Museum
There is a pervading view that Brutalist structures are unsightly and a plague on their surrounding context. Swinton’s 1960s shopping precinct is one such development, that through neglect and a lack of investment now stands mostly derelict and in a state of disrepair. Online petitions call on the council to demolish the whole site, deeming it an ‘eyesore’. The project aligns with the view of many architectural heritage organisations that Brutalism was a poignant period in history - a symbol of strength and ‘building back stronger’ following the destruction of WWII. The ethos of the movement was centred on the public (though not always successful in its delivery), the innovative forms, materials and spatial qualities of Brutalism should be celebrated and treated as valued heritage assets.
Swinton Precinct (Reimagined): A 60s Living Museum proposes the restoration and staging of the site as an immersive experience as if back in the 1960s, a time of cultural shift: new fashion, music, consumption and expanding of ideals beyond the post-war nuclear family. The scheme centres around the Lancastrian Hall & Central Library, the focal 1969 Brutalist building to be sensitively restored in line with archive-retrieved original plans and upgraded to meet contemporary standards. Equally, the Parade Maisonettes will be transformed to showcase different 60s icons and design styles (from Playboy and Barbie which revolutionised lifestyles outside of the heteronormative, to the psychedelic maximalist juxtaposed with a brutal minimalist modernism...all evolving in parallel).
The project aim is to spotlight design innovation that came from this decade through a theatrical architecture that is engagingly kitsch and campy. Visitors to the Precinct will be toured round the site under the guide of 'costumed historians' – key figures from the time providing interactive narration further selling this return to the 1960s. Please feel free to swing on by!
