The People’s Canopy

2015 – 2016

The People’s Canopy was a mobile architectural structure designed specifically for the city of Preston by award-winning Beijing architects People’s Architecture Office. The People’s Canopy was a two-storey high expandable roof structure on bicycle wheels. The ten units were designed to collapse to the size of a double decker bus to be pedalled from one location to another and thereby transform underused public spaces; spaces for auto transport are turned into spaces for pedestrians and events, and open streets connected. The aim of the project was to develop a bespoke, temporary architectural intervention for Preston that would create new, visible connections between the university and the city centre, as well as celebrate UCLan’s international links.