Bristol Car Parks
Buildings are most in danger of demolition a generation after they were built. Some deserve to be. They are unimaginatively designed or poorly built. But too often the default is to knock everything down without appreciating that some should be kept.
But why photograph these brutalist car parks in Bristol? Why maintain these concrete temples to the motor car - structures that disrupted and polluted our cities?
Well, it’s a reminder that once cars were the future. The motor car promised independence, flexibility, and the romance of the open road. This was a time of optimism and possibility.
Until everyone got one and the roads became congested and the air polluted. Cities were cut apart and reconstructed to accommodate underpasses, bypasses and overpasses.
This photographic series is a paean to a time when Bristol’s multi-story car parks emerged alongside rising living standards. When car ownership gave the masses freedom to go where they wanted. A time of optimism and possibilities.
The historic Rupert Street Car Park: Bristol's first multi-storey
It was prompted by a recent application to replace the iconic Rupert St Car Park in Bristol with a 21 storey accommodation block. This isn’t any old car park thrown up in the 60s. It holds the distinction of being Bristol's first multi-storey car park and the first in the UK to feature a continuous spiral parking ramp.
