Tyneside transformed

The Farrell Centre in Newcastle will launch Concrete Dreams, an eight month programme that features an exhibition, immersive installation and a wide range of events. The series explores how Tyneside was transformed in the latter half of the twentieth century and how we might reimagine the city of today.

From the iconic architecture of the Civic Centre and vast infrastructure projects like the Central Motorway, to local schools, libraries, civic amenities and housing – the urban transformations of the 1960s and 1970s have left an indelible mark on Tyneside. The mission of the architects, city planners and politicians who enacted them was not simply to modernise the city, but to bring about a more prosperous and egalitarian future – albeit with much-contested results.

Running September 2024 to June 2025, Concrete Dreams comprises an exhibition, installations and events programme, all geared towards exploring the ideals and aspirations that drove these transformations and the ways they continue to shape the Tyneside of today. Underpinning the project is the question: how amid the many challenges facing us now – from air quality to housing provision – can we build upon the legacies of that era and remake the city once again?

Exhibition and installation

Brasília of the North

19 September 2024 – 1 June 2025

The project starts with an evolving exhibition that explores the ideas, personalities and broader social, cultural and political climate that underpinned the aspirations to transform Newcastle into the ‘Brasília of the North’ – a shining north European equivalent to the futuristic new Brazilian capital city then emerging from the Cerrado savanna.

Exhibits include the 6m-long Newcastle city model first created in the 1960s to imagine the city’s future, the original architectural model for Gateshead’s Trinity Square Carpark, a Metro ‘cube’ featuring the typeface by legendary designer Margaret Calvert, a range of maps, books, drawings, photographs and films.

Rather than tell one single story about this still controversial moment in the city’s past, we are inviting visitors to construct their own individual stories as they explore the exhibition.

Installation: Alison’s Room: An Extended Reality Archive

19 September – 20 December (booking required)

Artist and researcher, Paula Strunden, presents an immersive reality experience of the study of the architect, Alison Smithson (1928–93), who, with her husband Peter Smithson (1923-2003), became key figures in post-war British architecture, having studied at Newcastle University in the 1940s.

The 1:1 scale installation combines the spatial experience of a number of influential designs by the Smithsons – who were instrumental in the emergence and development of Brutalism in the 1950s – with objects, furniture and even a talking cat. As they move through Alison’s room, visitors are invited to enter the imaginative space of a defining figure in the reimagining of British architecture and cities.

This Was The Future

A series of events with expert speakers tackling the big questions and key issues around Tyneside’s 1960s and 1970s transformations.

Newcastle Dreaming - 26 September

Exploring the modernist city as a site for imagining and enacting radical futures.

Dan Smith – Hero or Villain? - 24 October

Examining the motivations and legacies of the still controversial local politician.

Vertical Cities - 28 November

Skywalks, megastructures, towers and tunnels – reimagining the city vertically.

Urban Explorers

A programme of walking tours around notable sites from Newcastle’s modernist past and present led by photographer Euan Lynn.

Civic Centre - 13 October

Central Motorway -10 November

City Drawing - masterclass

Four sessions starting 20 October

Sharpen your drawings skills and understanding of city in this masterclass led by artist Mark Bletcher. Enjoy special access to buildings and viewpoints as you learn new techniques and build up a body of work to support further study or independent practice.

Schools Project

As part of Concrete Dreams, the Farrell Centre is working with local schools to explore in detail three significant architectural sites from the 1960s and 1970s: Trinity Square, Gateshead, Felling Swimming Baths and the Byker Estate.

Students will work with university lecturers, artists, and the theatre group Cap-a-Pie to explore the roles of these architectural projects in shaping their local areas, creating maps, drawings and recording oral histories.

The Farrell Centre is a public centre for architecture and cities located in Newcastle, UK. Opening in April 2023, it was instigated by renowned architect-planner Sir Terry Farrell, and forms part of Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. The centre’s mission is to engage and involve the broadest possible audience with the forces driving urban change to help bring about a built environment that is more inclusive, sustainable and democratic.

Press release adapted with thanks to the Farrell Centre.

Photograph of Killingworth Towers courtesy of the Amber Collective.