The People's Canopy

Abstract

The People’s Canopy is a mobile architectural structure designed specifically for the city of Preston by award-winning Beijing architects People’s Architecture Office.

Designed by PAO on the theme of the city as a meeting place, the People’s Canopy is a two-storey high expandable roof structure on bicycle wheels. The ten units are designed to collapse to the size of a double decker bus to be pedalled from one location to another and thereby transform underused public spaces; spaces for auto transport are turned into spaces for pedestrians and events, and open streets connected.

The aim of the project was to develop a bespoke, temporary architectural intervention for Preston that would create new, visible connections between the university and the city centre, as well as celebrate UCLan’s international links.

The People’s Canopy took centre stage at the inaugural Lancashire Encounter festival, after appearing at UCLan in September 2015. Cycled into the city centre by over 50 volunteers from the university and accompanied by a procession of cyclists from all over Preston, it was host and home to commissioned artworks, community gatherings, performances, workshops, meetings, interventions and a wide spectrum of creative activity. For three days it provided a social space in which communities from both the university and the wider city could share ideas, culture and traditions.

Following the success of the People’s Canopy at Lancashire Encounter, the invitation was extended by the curatorial team at the Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture to present the Canopy in Hong Kong in December 2015. The Canopy featured in an exhibition at the Beijing Culture and Art Center alongside work by Rem Koolhaas and Sou Fujimoto. It was awarded a Red Dot design concept award in 2016 and has also been shown at exhibitions and used for festivals at: Shekou Design Museum, Shekou V&A Partnership; Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, Hong Kong 2015/16; Venice Biennial of Architecture; Utopia Festival in Leuven, Belgium.