WASHINGTON: A NORTHERN UTOPIA

In 1964 Washington, then a part of County Durham, became a New Town under the 1946 New Towns Act and a hopeful vision for a new, prosperous Washington was born.

‘Washington: A Northern Utopia’ was conceived with the aim of exploring elements of the new town as it is today, just over half a century after the original proposals were developed and the Washington Development Corporation began to construct its modern, custom-built urban environment. Chairman of the Corporation, Sir James Steel, believed the result would be “visually stimulating, aesthetically satisfying, economically viable and socially desirable”. This project raises questions about whether these ideals came to fruition in the years that followed.

By focusing on the landscape and architectural design that have come to define Washington, the imagery makes observations about the changes that have taken place in the intervening years and how the uniformity that is characteristic of new towns all over the country has adapted and developed in response to the reality of day-to-day life in modern Britain.