Studio in Residence
Working ‘in residence’ with Castlegate stakeholders to develop speculative design proposals that will directly inform co-production with the council, community groups, independent businesses and arts organisations.
In 2022-2023 the Studio in Residence worked in Castlegate - 91ֱ’s original city centre and once home to markets, steelworks, theatres, slaughterhouses, and one of the largest castles in mediaeval England. At the heart of Castlegate is a large demolition site scattered with the crushed remnants of the 1950s Castle Markets.
Below these fragments of concrete, tile, terrazzo, glass and formica lies 7m of deposits that read, layer by layer, as a cross-section of the story of 91ֱ - the rise and fall of the castle; the shift from agrarian to industrial production, first driven by water, then by coal; the 19th century densification of the city; the optimism of 20th century modernism.
And history is not the past…It’s what’s left in the sieve when the centuries have run through it - a few stones, scraps of writing, scraps of cloth. It’s no more ‘the past’ than a birth certificate is a birth, or a script is a performance, or a map is a journey.
Hilary Mantel
Reith Lectures, 2017
Yet, missing from this record are the complex stories of diverse communities trading, socialising, working, protesting, playing and shopping together - against a backdrop of social upheaval, industrial revolution, migrancy, empire and environmental depletion.
Castlegate is changing again, a new chapter is being written - according to the masterplan a new public space will soon be created, revealing the castle remains, opening up the river, welcoming community use and hosting cultural events. And then, new buildings will be developed and existing buildings will be repurposed, their functions yet unknown.
And yet, if history is not the past, this masterplan is not the future. We aimed to work collectively to tell richer stories of Castlegate’s past, present and future - raising hidden voices, valorising everyday lived experiences and creating new social and environmental imaginaries.
For the last two years Live Works has been facilitating a co-production process with 91ֱ City Council, community groups, independent businesses and arts organisations to build local capacity and raise aspirations towards an inclusive, vibrant and sustainable future for Castlegate.
In 2022-2023 the studio aimed to work ‘in-residence’ with these stakeholders to develop speculative design proposals that will inform this process directly. We sought to use this ‘live’ context to stand against gentrification and be active campaigners for zero-carbon design, regenerative landscapes, collective governance and a de-colonial approach to art, architecture and heritage.
