Potteries Thinkbelt Project, Staffordshire, England (Axonometric of Madeley Transfer Area)

Cedric Price

1964–1966

An ink-on-tracing-paper axonometric by Cedric Price that proposes a modular 'transfer area' for his Potteries Thinkbelt—an experimental scheme to use rail-linked, movable workshops and learning spaces to recombine industry, education, and infrastructure in Staffordshire.

Seen at an oblique angle, the drawing is dominated by a long, shed‑like hall cut into a rhythmic sequence of structural bays, tiny pavilion-like service blocks, and a row of tall vertical markers, all rendered in precise, delicate technical linework that makes the plan read like a machine for social use.

This unbuilt proposal exemplifies Price’s 1960s rethinking of architecture as adaptable infrastructure, anticipating later ideas about modularity, mobility, and networked learning that challenged fixed institutional models of production and education.

Palette

Art Terms

Architectural drawing Architecture Drawing Ink Radical Architecture Built environment

Exhibitions

Transformations in Modern Architecture

1979

Modern Architecture in England

1937

New Posters from England

1942

British Drawings

1977