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Case Study: Warwick Bar Soundwalk

Part of an annotated photomontage of the Warwick Bar site on display in the MADE gallery, Warwick Bar, Birmingham, West Midlands, Liminal, 2006. Image courtesy of Liminal.Two soundwalkers on the War Bar Soundwalk, Warwick Bar, Birmingham, West Midlands, Liminal, 2006. Image courtesy of Liminal.Map for the Warwick Bar Soundwalk, Warwick Bar, Birmingham, West Midlands, Liminal, 2006. Image courtesy of Liminal. (Please note that a larger version appears on the audio files page).Flyer for the Warwick Bar Soundwalk, Warwick Bar, Birmingham, West Midlands, Liminal, 2006. Image courtesy of Liminal. (Please note that a larger version appears on the audio files page).

Summary

Warwick Bar is a five-acre site to the south of Birmingham City Centre with a rich industrial history.

Liminal – a team comprising architect Frances Crow and sound artist David Prior – was engaged to work with Kinetic AIU architects on the masterplan for Warwick Bar’s development. It is unusual for artists to be involved in a masterplanning process, in which outline plans for a development are drawn up.

As a first stage, Kinetic worked on a financial model to check the commercial viability of the development, but encountered difficulties with this and so their work was put on hold. This meant that Kinetic wasn't actively designing during the period that Liminal was engaged to contribute to the masterplan, and so there was little opportunity for joint working.

Liminal nevertheless undertook projects that explored the sound qualities of Warwick Bar and the team also drew up a number of proposals for the site. Liminal’s work has inspired Kinetic’s approach to the design of the development and it is hoped that Liminal will realise a number of sound projects there at a later date.

Liminal’s work was managed by MADE, the architecture centre for the West Midlands, and funded by PROJECT. Warwick Bar is being developed by ISIS developers.
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