New Hostel to Help Spur Margate's Revival by David Chipperfield Architects

Following other initiatives to support the resurgence of the city of Margate located in the district of Thanet, in the county of Kent, David Chipperfield Architects conceived a hostel addition to the Turner Contemporary art gallery.

Rendering. Turner Rooms by David Chipperfield Architects

Turner Rooms es a 100 room waterfront hostel was designed to help grow the future of the Turner Contemporary Art Gallery and secure its financial status. Located on the Margate waterfront, the proposal designed by David Chipperfield Architects, offers new ways for people to engage with the gallery and the town.

Description of project by David Chipperfield Architects

The Turner Rooms project on the Margate waterfront represents a new phase for Turner Contemporary art gallery, growing its vision and securing its financial future. The proposal provides the existing building with spaces to expand its range of cultural and artistic activities, broadening its appeal and offering new ways for people to engage with the gallery and town, and to encounter for themselves the changing light conditions of the Kent coastline that first drew J. M. W. Turner to the area.

The central function of Turner Rooms is to provide a residential component to the gallery’s facilities, accommodating visitors and group events, such as conferences, that are related to the Turner Contemporary programme. The hostel contains 100 simple, functional sea-facing rooms across four levels, which are designed to be accessible in price and flexible in arrangement. Meeting rooms, social spaces, and a cafe/brasserie will be located on the lower levels of the building, and open out onto the surrounding terrace.

Based on knowledge of the site, its surrounding context and the ambitions of the cultural institution, the new building would work together with the art gallery, allowing it to decant some activities, such as the cafe and events space, thereby liberating extra space for exhibition and display.

It is anticipated that the project would attract major private donations and sponsorship to cover the construction costs and subsidise the Turner Rooms project, as well as generate an endowment for Turner Contemporary that would allow it to expand its social and educational role within the community.

The project was independently conceived by David Chipperfield Architects and given to Turner Contemporary on a pro bono basis.

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Site plan. Turner Rooms by David Chipperfield Architects

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David Chipperfield

Sir David Alan Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and was raised on a farm in Devon, in the southwest of England. He studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, graduating in 1980. He later worked with Douglas Stephen, Norman Foster, and Richard Rogers before founding his own firm, David Chipperfield Architects, in 1985.

The firm has grown to include offices in London, Berlin (1998), Shanghai (2005), Milan (2006), and Santiago de Compostela (2022). His first notable commission was a commercial interior for Issey Miyake in London, which led him to work in Japan. In the United Kingdom, his first significant building was the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, completed in 1997.

Chipperfield has developed over one hundred projects across Asia, Europe, and North America, including civic, cultural, academic, and residential buildings. In Germany, he led the reconstruction of the Neues Museum in Berlin (1993–2009) and the construction of the James-Simon-Galerie (1999–2018).

He has been a professor at various universities in Europe and the United States, including the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and Yale University. In 2012, he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. In 2017, he established the RIA Foundation in Galicia, Spain, dedicated to research on sustainable development in the region.

He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and has been recognized as an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). He has received numerous awards, including the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2011, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association in 2013, and the Pritzker Prize in 2023. In 2009, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, in 2010 he was knighted for his services to architecture, and in 2021 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in the United Kingdom.

Chipperfield's career is distinguished by his focus on the relationship between architecture and its context, as well as his commitment to sustainability and the preservation of architectural heritage.

Published on: August 10, 2018

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