Words by Rob Colbourne Artist and Landscape Architect Fargo’s incremental development meant working periodically to embed creativity into the scheme. Rather than create more ‘works of art’, practical design elements such as wayfinding, shelter, signage, and security could be infused with a palette of ideas inspired by those past weaving and bicycle manufacturing industries; the architecture of hand and jacquard looms; and those timber framed buildings indigenous to the street. At the Far Gosford Street entrance we proposed a timber-framed structure. Its form was derived from a succession of models that investigated jaquard cards and the lattice of ribbon-threads converging on a loom. Twisting spokes echoed both the diagonal cladding of the entrance building and the woven gate designed for the rear of the site. A rectangular frame created a pergola and external cafe space, whilst the This creative village on Far Gosford Street Industrial Estate in Coventry includes a vibrant mix of uses: marketplace, independent retail, designer-maker and artists studios, galleries, live music venues

and bars. The development was a major driver for economic change in this regeneration area and provides a low-cost base for small creative enterprises and artists. “Fargo Village is very good ordinary architecture, a demonstration of what can be achieved with very modest means, by employing intelligence and creativity. It represents what the late architect Robert Maguire once defined as the criterion for his work – “a high standard of ordinariness”.” Joe Holyoak, Architect & Urban Designer, Birmingham Post, 23 October 2014 cantilevered timber exploded upwards: reaching out into the street. Acting as a support for banners and event information, the illuminated structure would also be a form of signage in itself.