Liverpool Resurgent

Liverpool Resurgent

The former Lewis's department store is one of Liverpool's defining civic landmarks. Dominating the eastern edge of Liverpool Central Station, its Art Deco façade remains an enduring symbol of the city's commercial and architectural heritage, crowned by Jacob Epstein's iconic Liverpool Resurgent sculpture.

Despite its prominence, much of the building has stood dormant for decades. Ambitious redevelopment proposals, including the Central Village masterplan, failed to materialise, leaving behind an extraordinary but largely forgotten volume at the heart of the city. While thousands of people pass beneath it every day, the building has yet to reclaim the civic presence it once commanded.

Possibility

Reimagine Lewis's not simply as a restored historic building, but as Liverpool's symbolic front door.

The proposal introduces a monumental sculptural intervention inspired by the confidence, optimism and craftsmanship of the Art Deco era. Emerging from around Epstein's Liverpool Resurgent, the installation transforms the statue into the origin point of an expanding architectural form that represents the city's continuing renaissance.

Rather than ending at the façade, the sculpture extends into the building itself, occupying the vast central void left by the abandoned Central Village development. The installation becomes an immersive spatial experience, guiding visitors through the forgotten heart of the building before reconnecting with Liverpool Central Station below and creating a dramatic new gateway into the city.

As plans progress to expand and modernise Liverpool Central Station, the concept also explores how the Lewis's building could provide an additional entrance and civic arrival space, creating a more direct pedestrian route between Central Station, Lime Street Station and Liverpool's commercial core.

Details

Developed as a conceptual public artwork that transforms one of Liverpool's most recognisable landmarks into a contemporary civic statement.

Constructed as a lightweight structural lattice clad in warm copper and bronze finishes, the intervention combines folded metallic panels with integrated linear lighting to create a sculptural form that changes character throughout the day. Sunlight activates the reflective surfaces during daylight hours, while concealed illumination allows the structure to glow after dark, projecting a renewed civic presence across the city skyline.

The geometry deliberately frames rather than replaces Epstein's Liverpool Resurgent, treating the historic sculpture as the symbolic heart of the composition. The flowing lattice expands outward like a pulse of energy, embodying resilience, creativity and renewed confidence while referencing both the precision of Art Deco ornamentation and the industrial craft that shaped Liverpool's identity.

Internally, the installation continues as a suspended architectural ribbon weaving through the hollow central atrium. Acting simultaneously as artwork, wayfinding device and spatial landmark, it reactivates previously inaccessible volumes with opportunities for exhibitions, performance, public gathering and cultural programming. Visitors arriving from Liverpool Central Station would experience the sculpture as a continuous journey rather than a single object, reinforcing the connection between movement, place and identity.

The proposal demonstrates how public art can operate as civic infrastructure. More than a landmark, it becomes a new orientation point for the city, reconnecting heritage architecture with contemporary transport, culture and public life while expressing a simple ambition: a Liverpool that is once again confident enough to project itself boldly into the future.