Sir Anish Kapoor’s studio has been present on a South London street for 20 years. Since 2010 the artist with CFA have collaborated on the transformation of a series of industrial buildings into new flexible studio spaces for making art using a variety of materials and processes. The project consists of six separate spaces incrementally transformed to allow the continuous use of the site by the artist during the period of the build. The project creates a total of 3,100msq for art making. The project brief developed through the period of the project to its completion in late 2015. Individual spaces have differing atmospheres from near gallery specifications to robust studio workspaces. The history of the pre transformed spaces was retained with the archaeological surfaces left untreated where the artist had drawn or sketched maquettes of early work.
This project transformed a redundant diary building into new spaces for art making for the sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor. The new building comprises of 900msq of floor area spread over two floors with three distinct types of interior. A 9 m high north lit ground floor volume created by removing a significant area of the first floor A upper level painting studio together with a ground floor 4meter high volume that retained the fabric and material of the original. The architectural interventions provided an internal world free from external distraction and maintaining a discrete presence on the street.
The collage of brickwork of the redundant diary building reflected the history of the site through brick textures and colours. CFA edited openings making new diffuse glazed windows within retained openings and infilling others with low grade brickwork maintaining the discordant surface of previous interventions.
Material Used :
1. Glazing Sub Contractor: Firmens
2. Mechanical ventilation sub contractor: Salix Mechanical Services
3. Industrial Doors: Hormann
4. Rooflights: Lonsdale Metal Company Ltd
