Act One - Preston Cartographically I.IV Typologies & Use

Fishergate high-street is seen running East-West along the top third and creates a clear linear route through the dense and complex space. Behind the lateral frontages of these shopping streets is a network of narrow alleyways, outhouses and service yards. To the north and south typical terrace blocks are visible an artefact of rapid industrialisation. The visualisation of the city as a series of voids highlights the spaces that are left between, often the ones actually experienced in people’s daily lives. The forms and shapes seen in the context will inform the proposed design block.

Preston experienced rapid expansion in the 1800s and its architectural fabric is typical of northern towns & cities which experienced the same morphology, the majority of buildings being remnants of this Victorian Industrial Boom. In the post war era slum clearance schemes saw the construction of Brutalist icons such as the Bus Station and several housing estates, many of which, however, have been demolished and replaced with modern buildings since. The immediate site context is characterised by grander Victorian commercial buildings along a few post-millennium additions.

The city is naturally spatially planned into quarters and zones, for shopping and leisure, for work and for living. However through the organic process of city expansion these zones begin to bleed into one another and overlap. The high-street is clearly defined by retail spaces, whereas to the south is mostly commercial and office buildings and to the north light industrial areas formed in the remnants of historic mill yards. Residential blocks are a mix of existing Victorian terraces, modernist social housing estates and postmillennium apartment blocks.

The site is situated at the epicentre of the city and along the main thoroughfare The inner-city area is characterised by a number of listed historic buildings, namely Victorian and pre-industrial civic buildings, notable religious buildings as well as the occasional modernist icon. The former cinema was once part (at its height) of 22 working cinemas in the city, 5 of which were located along Fishergate. Of these former entertainment spaces, none remain open and most are demolished or decayed.