manchester entertainment
days out

Friday, 29th July 2005
Enjoy the Urban Oasis
Kevin Bourke
PICCADILLY Basin in the Northern Quarter is to be transformed into the Hoegaarden Urban Oasis for a week.

The Hoegaarden Urban Oasis is an "interactive outdoor installation that challenges the relationship between urban and natural environments and looks at the effect this manipulation of space has on city dwellers."

The installation was conceived and implemented by the Office for Subversive Architecture, a collective of architects known for their public space.

A recent project called INTACT, for instance, saw them transform a redundant railway signal box in London's East End to look like a suburban family home.

With the Hoegaarden Urban Oasis, OSA will create a living piece of nature in the heart of the city. This urban experience will be open to visitors over the course of one week to interact with and enjoy.

The installation will take the form of a natural pub that grows out of a turf carpet. All the top surfaces including the Hoegaarden bar will be covered in grass and some of the tables and chairs will be at different stages of growth.

Signs around the installation will read; "Keep on the grass" and the jukebox will be playing sounds from nature.

The Hoegaarden Urban Oasis will be at Dale Street from August 3-10. Free.