The six Staffordshire pottery towns were amalgamated in 1910 to form Stoke-on-Trent. Yet, one of the long-standing problems of the city is its ‘six towns mentality’. The incredible parochialism of the residents of each town in The Potteries; Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Longton, and Fenton combined with the loss of their shared industry – pottery – has led the city into disrepair. The proposal is for a parliament where each town is represented and united through a desire to raise the city back to its former glory.

The project uses performance as its design methodology, translating stories of the towns into performance and architecture. This embeds the history and conflicts of the six towns into the building via a choreographed design process. By capturing these stories in the building, ritual and tradition become firmly implanted in the parliament, even in the building’s infancy.