O'Donnel + Tuomey Architects designed an entrance with an open plan design connects the ground level Café and lower-ground Bookshop to the street, creating a welcoming meeting place and lively hub for visitors. A centrepiece of the ground floor is The Wall, a digital display which presents guest-curated projects, artist commissions and collaborative photographic work involving the public.
The scheme includes numerous links between exterior and interior, punctuating the building with large feature windows which function as apertures onto the urban realm around Oxford Street. A new environmentally-controlled floor creates opportunities to show more work from archives and museum collections and higher ceilings in the top floor galleries provide dynamic spaces for large-scale and moving image works.
Situated at the heart of the building between the two main exhibition spaces is the Eranda Studio. Placing an emphasis on the Gallery’s education programme, this floor features a full schedule of talks, workshops and events. Introducing permanent elements to the programme, the Eranda Studio includes a camera obscura and a Study Room where the public can access an archive of material related to exhibitions and events which have taken place since the Gallery was established in 1971. Complementing the enhanced facilities for the public programme are new spaces for the bookshop, print sales room and café.
PROYECT CREDITS
Architects: O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects.
Area: 1345 sqm.
Dates. Design: 2009. Opening: May 2012.
Site: Soho, London. U.K.