A Vision for Tropicana

Reimagining a former Lido site in Weston-super-Mare.
North Somerset Council
Type: Placemaking & Events, Regeneration, Urban Design & Visioning
Date: 2016

For a six-week period in 2015, Banksy’s ‘art show’ Dismaland colonised the Tropicana site and became nothing less than an international sensation with a sell-out 4,500 paying customers a day. Bringing an estimated £20 million to the local economy and putting Weston-Super-Mare and Tropicana back on the map.

HemingwayDesign recognised the immediate opportunity to harness the energy of summer 2015, create a new meaning for the site and look at what the Dismaland legacy could be in the short and long term.

We created a vision for Tropicana as a multi-use arts and creative space. And after decades of being closed, this iconic building on Weston-super-Mare’s sandy beach started to host a year round series of events.