24 - 27 Jul 2025
Loading Bay
The City as a Festival
Leeds School of Architecture
Alternative futures for a landmark building in the heart of Bradford were explored.
Cinema, theatre, gallery, boxing gym – alternative futures for a landmark building in the heart of Bradford were explored.
What would you do with a huge empty building in the heart of our city? Leeds School of Architecture asked its students that very question about a disused warehouse in the centre of Bradford – and the public were encouraged to explore their ideas at this special exhibition.
The former Marks & Spencer warehouse on Darley Street was a sleeping giant in the city centre. We turned it into Loading Bay, a pop-up cultural space that has presented a packed programme as part of Bradford 2025.
But before Loading Bay opened in the spring, Leeds School of Architecture invited its first-year students to dream up alternative uses for the space. The City as a Festival, a special exhibition in the Loading Bay basement, presented their ideas, which ranged from a cinema and film studio to a gym and boxing ring.
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