Clapham Art Gallery
Common Ground Workshop have completed a full design and delivery service for the sensitive renovation and retrofit of an existing warehouse and annex to the rear and side of a 4 storey residential property along Rectory Road, Clapham, to provide a large art gallery and exhibition space, artist residency studio, and landscaped sculpture garden. The client is a practicing local artist, and the brief called for a fundamental re-modelling of a ground floor spaces to provide the new programme as well as access through from front to rear, allowing for a plethora of artistic use patterns whilst maintaining the privacy and security of the main residential host property.
The new gallery facility will serve as a workshop and exhibition space for the client and also provide open work-space for local artists, enlivening the local community in an area which has a rich history of artisanal and craft-based manufacturing; It is envisioned that the space will be a local incubator and a centre for philanthropy and community development. The space will act as a chameleon, shape-shifting from gallery to studio with the introduction of mobile walls and ‘cabinets of curiosities’ offering both storage for artists and valuable wall space to display the art.
At the heart of the project’s conservation philosophy is a focus on sustainability whereby materials salvaged from the demolition have been reintroduced to the new build elements. The proposal celebrates the rich history of the existing warehouse as a building set within a garden landscape, and provides a retrofit proposal that seeks to carefully carve out and reconnect the internal space with the abundant daylight and surrounding landscape context.
Photography by Ståle Eriksen
Client
Private
Location
Clapham, London
Budget
Confidential
Size
100 sqm
Status
Technical Design
