Gate 81

A project promoting the creative interpretation and remaking of Preston Bus Station. Please visit the desktop site to download the free resources.

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Gate 81 at Preston Bus station T shirt being sported at Horse Play on Sat night - Brutalist Jam!

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International Artist Chris Jones discusses his work at Preston Bus station. Part of a series of 6 talks available to watch from the Gate 81 Re-Imagine Preston Bus Station Workshop, held in the bus station on Saturday May 11th 2013.

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Artist Jamie Hawkesworth discusses his film and photography work at Preston Bus Station. Part of a series of 6 talks available to watch from the Gate 81 Re-Imagine Preston Bus Station Workshop, held in the bus station on Saturday May 11th 2013. A They Eat Culture Production in partnership with Manchester School of Architecture, Supported by The Arts Council and Preston City council.

www.gate81.com www.theyeatculture.org www2.mmu.ac.uk/

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Part of a series of 6 talks available to watch from the Gate 81 Re-Imagine Preston Bus Station Workshop, held in the bus station on Saturday May 11th 2013. 

A They Eat Culture Production in partnership with Manchester School of Architecture, Supported by The Arts Council and Preston City council. www.gate81.com www.theyeatculture.org www.mmu.ac.uk/

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Part of a series of 6 talks available to watch from the Gate 81 Re-Imagine Preston Bus Station Workshop, held in the bus station on Saturday May 11th 2013. 

A They Eat Culture Production in partnership with Manchester School of Architecture, Supported by The Arts Council and Preston City council.

www.gate81.com 

www.theyeatculture.org

www.mmu.ac.uk/

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Head of the Manchester School of Architecture, Tom Jefferies discusses the historical importance of Preston Bus Station. This is part of a series of 6 talks available to watch from the Gate 81 Re-Imagine Preston Bus Station Workshop, held in the bus station on Saturday May 11th 2013.

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Competition Launch!

Lancashire County Council are urging architects and urban designers from around the world to enter their exciting open design competition. What's really great about this news is that the competition is centred around the re-design of Preston Bus Station; with the intention of offering the people of Preston a new and exciting civic space, and a more attractive pedestrian route.

They Eat Culture worked in partnership with Manchester School of Architecture on Gate 81- our project centred on exploring preservation and ideas of creatively adapting the building to serve the City. 

Fast forward...now there's an exciting competition to re-design part of the bus station - you can read more about it here:

http://www.ribacompetitions.com/preston/

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The sun came out in front of the Bus Station

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Model of Preston Bus Station parades along Friargate

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Model of Preston Bus station in front of Preston Bus station

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Model of Preston Bus Station in front of the Harris

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Model of Preston Bus Station travels along Fishergate

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Part of the model of Preston Bus Station for the procession on November 2nd

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Procession: Four of the thirty two panels

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Making a spectacle of Ourselves

Bus Station model in progress

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Procession to Celebrate the Bus Station 2nd November

Please join us to celebrate the Bus Station

Preston Bus Station has been listed, but this doesn’t mean that it’s future is secure and that we can forget about it. Great care needs to be taken when considering its future. The building could still be demolished if the council find the right buyer for the site and can convince the government that it is in the best interests of the city for the area to be free of all existing structures and other impediments. Attention must also be paid to any remodelling of the building; the city needs a thoughtful, contextual response rather than an overpowering and gratuitously flamboyant solution.

In recognition of both the listing and popularity of the building, there will be a procession on November 2nd. The Bus Station had proved to be well thought of and important to the residents of Preston, and this is a chance to demonstrate the collective desire for a well-designed and viable future for the building.

Gate 81 will make a contribution to the procession, and as with all of the activities so far, the focus is upon the celebration, recognition and acclaim, rather than aggressive and antagonistically making demands and ultimatums. Our involvement is a huge model of the building; this will be carried in sections through the streets with the intention of creating recognition and delight.

So, we will meet outside the Corn Exchange at the bottom of Lune Street at 11am, this will allow us to congregate before processing along Friargate to the Flag Market at 12 Noon. Please join us.

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Preston Bus Station Granted Grade 2 Listing

It is with great delight the Gate 81 can confirm that Preston Bus Station has been granted Grade 2 listed status. We have actively supported the campaign to enjoy the building, and we hope that this will mean that we can take delight in it for many years to come.

Don’t forget the planned procession to celebrate the Bus station, which will parade through the City Centre on November 2nd.

Here is an extract from the English Heritage notice about the listing:

“English Heritage is very pleased that the Heritage Minister has agreed with its advice to list Preston Central Bus Station and Car Park at Grade II. A dramatic building which combines innovation with architectural panache, the Bus Station fully deserves this marker of special recognition.

With an unusual blend of New Brutalist architecture mellowed by the curves of the roof and the sweeping ranks of the car park, this ‘megastructure’ was designed to recreate a sense of the monumental within the British town scene: it is a landmark in the innovation of transport-related buildings as well as a landmark of Preston.

 The Heritage Minister’s decision recognises the ingenuity with which the car park and the bus station are combined - strikingly uniting simple forms with the details required by a building with a heavy-duty function. It is a bus station which aspired to the glamour of other forms of travel, combining rational modernity with expressive architectural forms. During a time of optimism in progress and modernity, it was devised to provide the added facilities needed by the town as well as long-distance services made possible by the opening of the M6 and gave Preston a unique place in coach travel.

Preston Bus Station is truly remarkable; the boldness of vision, the ingenuity of the design, the attention to detail and the aesthetic impact mark it out from the vast numbers of public buildings built since the Second World War.

 Listing will not prevent changes being made, provided that the architectural significance of the building is protected. We are aware that Preston City Council faces challenges in maintaining the structure and integrating it effectively with the city centre and that, as a result, it has decided that it wishes to demolish it. We will however continue to explore with the Council how these challenges can be addressed so that the building can once again play a key role in the life of the city.”