A competition to suggest uses for Preston’s forgotten spaces launches this week.
AdvertisementDesigners and architects are invited to submit their ideas for abandoned buildings, dead space under a motorway flyover or a patch of unused land, to be brought back into use for the public.
A list of spaces will also be put forward by the planning department at Preston City Council.
Councillor Peter Rankin, Leader of Preston City Council said: “We are delighted that RIBA has chosen Preston alongside London to provide the ‘Forgotten Spaces’ as part of this nationally recognised competition.
“Preston has some fantastic development opportunities and this a great chance for architects to explore Preston’s forgotten spaces and view it from a different perspective, providing inspiration to developers, fellow architects and the people of Preston alike.”
The Forgotten Spaces competition is run in conjunction with the Royal Institute of British Architects who will provide a cash prize for the best idea and help judge the competition.
RIBA President Angela Brady said: “Forgotten Spaces provides a fantastic opportunity for architects and designers to share locally inspired proposals with a wide audience, including local authorities, investors and developers, it forms a test bed for ideas and discussion on what our cities could and should look like.”
All the entries will be displayed in an exhibition in the former Post Office building in the city centre in November 2013.
The winner of the competition will receive £5,000, second place £2,000 and £1,000 for third place.
The competition is open to anyone, not just designers and architects, and the brief goes up on the RIBA website on Thursday 21 February.
The deadline to register to take part is Wednesday 27 March and the closing date for entries is Thursday 9 May.
Where would you like to see brought back into use? Which bit of land do you walk by every day and think “this could be a great…”? Let us know in the comments below
Image credit to CottonGilly on Flickr.