Using origami-like bricks, Royal College of Art graduate Olivia Wright will convert three towering bottle kilns in an unused pottery factory into a historic conservation center.
Above image: Olivia Wright’s proposed design for the bottle tower conservation project.
According to Dezeen, the local council in the Burslem region of Stoke-onTrent wanted to redevelop the site, which has fallen victim to disrepair and vandalism. The factory closed after World War II when the British pottery market slumped. Environmental regulations enacted in the 1950s saw bottle kilns in the country replaced by kilns which resembled tunnels rather than bottles. The effort to preserve the historic potteries will take place over the course of ten years.
Wright will design a set of angular slip-cast bricks to enclose the towers. She said of the design:
“The six different bricks were made by distorting a square. I was enthralled by the idea of something being deconstructed and remade.”
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Olivia Wright’s proposed designs for the bottle kiln preservation project.
This is a wonderful project. I was so upset to visit the potteries and seeing them all being torn down. Thank goodness someone is working to preserve this heritage.