Built Stuff

Wolverton Walk

Client:

Wolverton Partnership, Wolverton & Greenleys Neighbourhood Council and Wolverton Society

Project:

Wolverton Walk, Wolverton, Milton Keynes.

Date:

1999-2001.

Budget:

21,500

Background and Brief

Wolverton is a Victorian railway town, on the outskirts of Milton Keynes. Julia Manheim was appointed as consultant artist for town centre improvements and to devise a town trail which would highlight points of interest around the town and encourage people to come into Wolverton. Residents were also keen to promote Wolverton as a town in its own right, as distinct from Milton Keynes.

Scheme

Phase 1.
* Worked with Hyder Landscape Architects on town centre improvements
* Feasibility study for Wolverton Walk in consultation with local residents
* Preparation of a report and recommendations

Phase 2.
Design, fabrication and installation of terrazzo paving insets, which mark out a short walk (approx. 2.5km) around the town. Each walk marker is inlaid with ‘Wolverton mix’, fragments of discarded objects in a variety of materials, for example: toys, building materials, buttons, toothbrushes. The idea was to re-cycle everyday objects in such a way that they became like fossils or jewels. Some of the markers are also inlaid with text which highlights an existing building, or recalls something which is no longer there.

Wolverton Walk marker
terrazzo inlaid with aluminium and plastic.  Julia Manheim

Wolverton Walk marker
terrazzo inlaid with aluminium and plastic.  Julia Manheim

Wolverton bulbs.  Julia Manheim

Wolverton Walk marker
terrazzo inlaid with aluminium and plastic.  Julia Manheim