Farrell Centre — Attraction in Newcastle upon Tyne

A lovely exhibition building belonging to Newcastle university. Their focus is on urbanism, architecture, and how can the citizens participate in the decisions made in those fields. They have a fantastic area on the second floor with activities for children so it's a great spot to bring young ones to learn about their city. As of the time of this review they had a temporary exhibition on brutalism and its aesthetics in Newcastle, Concrete Dreams. It's choke full of information, can believe Newcastle angled to be considered as the Brasilia of the north! Go and check it...

I visited the Farrell centre after reading about it in a leaflet picked up at a Newcastle cafe. I was mainly interested in the Concrete Dreams exhibition which covers the Modernist remodelling of Newcastle in the late sixties and early seventies. There were numerous interesting exhibits including cultural references to Get Carter, Our Friends in the North etc. However I was surprised to see no reference to T Dan Smith's involvement with Poulson and his subsequent imprisonment! Nonetheless a good exhibition and the staff were very friendly...

Really happy to see this space open. The building restoration and internal fit out is very impressive. I think the exhibition curation is still finding it’s feet for now. Some interesting ideas and research, but execution is maybe less engaging. I was impressed by some of the zines/publications available. I think there’s a great opportunity for it to become a vocal point for conversations on the changing city,...