The Poetry Factory Sounding The Voices of Calton

The Poetry Factory is a public building for ‘oral’ arts and culture. Its role is to provide a platform for the voices of Calton, Glasgow, to encourage oral cultural expression –a place that is as much a mediator for culture coming into Calton, as a mediator for the communities in the area.

The project is organised around a structural stanza, which builds on the sapphic poetic stanza, that creates an urban monument, keeping a consistent scale around the perimeter of the factory while free forms reign within. The stanza creates a grid system for the loadbearing glu-lam beams and pillars that is visible through the whole project.

The programmes are distributed according to a narrative of 4 categories: Collect – Reflect – Create – Perform, where the people of Calton can arrive to the building and collect a contribution to the Calton voice project, passing the spaces of official- and un-official performances getting glimpses of the activities until reach inga place to reflect and think around gathered experiences.

Site Strategy/Section 1:250