The HubWorkington Hub

Workington town centre

What is The Hub?
The Hub is a new outdoor performance space at the heart of Workington town centre where the four new shopping malls meet. The area has a canopy overhead, incorporating lighting and state of the art 3D sound technology. The Hub's canopy, designed by BASE Structures in Bristol and is suspended from the surrounding buildings. For more information on The Hub structure and installation visit the background information page.

View The Hub space now via our live video feed.

What does The Hub do?

The Hub's 3D sound system can be configured to broadcast any live or recorded sound, Allerdale Borough Council are working in partnership with SoundWave as well as local performers and organisations to programme and create new work to be performed in the space in the future. More information on SoundWave's involvement with The Hub can be found in The Hub leaflet attached below.

What can I hear at The Hub?

Currently playing at The Hub is a two hour soundscape by SoundWave of local groups and an hour of SoundLife by Illustrious.   

Workington Hub

SoundWave composition has been created by local artists and community groups as part of SoundWave's programme of 'Transformation Through Music', and includes local young musicians, professional and amateur groups, field recordings and an Indonesian gamelan orchestra.

SoundLife is a unique three-dimensional surround sound composition created by Illustrious Company (Martyn Ware and Vince Clarke) incorporating recordings made in and around Workington, combined with historical archived material to create a subtle but beautiful immersive sound experience. Sounds will drift invisibly around visitors to The Hub, creating a contemplative experience about the people, places and atmospheres that help to make Workington the unique location that it has always been.

Recordings that feature in SoundLife include sounds of manufacturing, the steelworks, reminiscences of local people including the famous ‘Uppies and Downies’ game, bingo halls, rugby league training, children’s nursery rhymes, rare and beautiful instruments from the Helena Thompson Museum, church bells ringing, the sounds of the local countryside, the docks, skateboarding, markets, amateur dramatics, wind turbines and local musicians.

Listen to a sample of the soundscape 'Soundlife' by Illustrious Company

What is the best way to listen to The Hub?

  • In order to get the best listening experience to the 3D sound of The Hub stand in the centre of the space inside the benches
  • You will get different listening experiences around the space so try moving to see how the sound changes around you
  • The sound will be different if you are sitting on a bench as you will mainly hear what is being played out of the speaker below the bench you are sitting on rather than the complete 3D experience
  • As the sound is played towards the centre of the space listening outside of the circle of benches may not give you the best experience and you could struggle to hear many of the sounds at all
  • The soundscape being played is intended to be ambient; this means it should not be very loud and obvious but that the sounds are like any background sounds you might normally hear in a space.

Please note that as the background noise levels at The Hub will vary depending on how many people are in the space, the louder the background noise the harder it will be to hear parts of the soundscape as it will blend in.  If you want to hear the soundscape clearly try visiting The Hub while the space is quieter such as late afternoon.

How can I book to use The Hub and Hub space?

The Hub can be used for live events, performances, commercial promotions or it is possible to commission a soundscape to be added to The Hub programme. For more information on booking The Hub please visit The Hub booking information page

How can I find out more?

Please view the background information page.  The Hub leaflet also has further images of The Hub, a section on SoundWave and more information on how to get involved.  See attachment below.

You can also find out more about the artists by visiting the websites listed below. 


Downloadable Documents

All documents open in a new window.

File name

Size

Download time

Adobe PDF format - download the viewerThe Hub Leaflet in PDF format343 Kb1 min 38 secs @ 28.8k, 49 secs @ 56k

Get Adobe Acrobat ReaderDownload Acrobat PDF Reader (external website). Acrobat PDF Reader allows you to view PDF files.

last updated 12 March 2010