The buildings at Florence Mine are the only visual remains of a vast industry that once dominated the West Coast of Cumbria – iron.
Egremont, Cleator Moor, Beckermet, and Millom hosted over 200 iron ore mines and enormous iron production plants that employed thousands of people at Workington and Millom.
But what does the future hold for this decaying set of buildings? What would you like to see happen to them?
Should they be conserved for posterity and become a visitor centre or reimagined and put to contemporary use – to house creative industries or businesses like a meditation ‘Zentre’ or brewery – so that they are useful to the community once again, providing employment and other opportunities?
A spokesperson said: "Master’s students from Manchester School of Architecture have surveyed the buildings and put their creative genius to work giving us some designs to think about.
"Fly through the buildings (courtesy of 3D scanning), explore the array of ideas, and most importantly, share your thoughts in this interactive exhibition.
"The exhibition presents the work of first year Master’s students from the Infrastructure Space Atelier at Manchester School of Architecture. Students were asked to think about future uses of the Florence Mine and the surrounding site, its connectivity to Egremont, and the wider Cumbrian area."
The main questions from the students’ brief were: Can infrastructural architecture be productive in the service of humans and the environment simultaneously? How can we reimagine latent infrastructural architecture to be environmentally, industrially, culturally, and socially productive?
To produce the architectural proposals students conducted a range of studies including, mapping the surrounding area and the wider region of Cumbria, conducting both digital and analogue surveys of the site, as well as engaging with stakeholders and community groups.
Students then developed their own architectural proposals to speculate on how Florence may be reimagined over the coming years.
Throughout the work, you will see a range of different approaches to the site; each with their own opportunities and challenges.
As such we would warmly welcome you to reflect on the work you see, to consider how you may reimagine Florence over the coming years.
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