Ben Craven Architecture + Design Portfolio

Introduction

 

This Project built upon the themes approached in the urban design project. Vacant land and decay is a common sight in virtually every British city, abandoned buildings, parking lots, brownfield sites and old industrial corridors are common. The site was placed on the west side of Avenham street in Preston, it was a long and narrow vacant site with excellent access to the amenities of the city centre.

 

Our client was a Swiss octogenarian who had emigrated to Preston and wished to establish the Preston Institute of Time and Horology where he hoped to pass on his master watchmaking skills to a hand-selected group of 20 young Prestonian apprentices. The Institute was to provide educational training together with an area for the exhibition of both timepieces and a brief history of time itself.

 

The Concept

 

The area we had to work with was long and narrow, set in an urban environment and some of the buildings and spaces could be described as forgotten spaces. Two streets ran either side to the site, Old Cock Yard and Avenham st. Old Cock Yard was a forgotten street which lay idol by day and chaotic by night. The Concept was to introduce a new urban square to Avenham st. A link needed to be established between Old Cock Yard and Avenham st, this link enabled the urban landscape to engage with the interior of the building.