For the artist duo Spacecowboys - Albert Dedden and Paul Keizer - Studio Groen+Schild designed a new workshop on the grounds of De Gasfabriek in Deventer.

For more than twenty years, the Spacecowboys have been creating monumental sculptures for public spaces: works that provide orientation, evoke stories, and strengthen the identity of a place. Their art reflects not only the surroundings in which it stands, but also the artists themselves.

This openness and visibility also form the core of the design for their new studio. The transparent workshop makes the creative process visible: what happens inside can be followed from the outside. Encounters, curiosity, and exchange thus become a natural part of daily practice.

The building is based on a lightweight steel structure with insulated panels, typical of industrial buildings. This black box is enclosed by a timber shell that gives the building its distinctive character - pure and robust - while referencing the traditional American barn.

The ground floor houses a double-height “dirty” workshop with a large overhead door for transporting sculptures, alongside a “clean” studio space. On the first floor, there is an additional studio area that can also be used by others. Above that, the most spectacular space has been created: a covered outdoor terrace with magnificent views over the floodplains and the River IJssel.

Built with industrial simplicity beneath a distinctive wooden shell, the building embodies the pioneering spirit of the Spacecowboys: adventurous, functional, and unconventional - a workshop that serves as a statement in itself: open, autonomous, and full of creative energy.