Trawsfynydd on film

Friday, 1 February 2013

As the UK's only inland nuclear power plant, Trawsfynydd makes an imposing landmark (Image: Emptyset)

 
The Trawsfynydd nuclear power plant, under decommissioning in Britain, will feature in a sound and film installation that explores industrial architecture.

The Magnox power plant was built to a design by Sir Basil Spence, a noted architect in the brutalist or modernist style. From 1965 until 1991 it generated 392 MWe and is now only three years away from being sealed into a state of care and maintenance in which it will lie undisturbed until around 2070. Site director Dave Wilson said staff "are working with different partners to preserve the cultural impact of the Trawsfynydd site to make sure we leave a historical record for future generations."

Recently the power plant's empty buildings were visited by a group called Emptyset for a sound and film installation it is preparing for the Tate Britain gallery's Performing Architecture series. Emptyset bounced sound waves from the walls to construct spatial recordings, which will be combined with video and photography.

The charge floor (Image: Emptyset)

Boilers in storage (Image: Emptyset)

 
Emptyset's intention has been to "examine a moment in time within the lifetime of this landmark structure, considering both its industrial legacy and transitional future," said Tate Britain. The group has previously filmed at an unfinished mansion and want to use Trawsfynydd to explore another part of the architectural cycle: "What is architecture when its function is lost?"

The film screens free of charge from 6.30pm to 9pm tonight in London at the Tate Britain auditorium.
 
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News