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Michael Collins Architects
Michael Collins Architects
Over the last few years, smaller arts and cultural organisations across the UK have had to compete for diminishing public funds and as a result of competition from retail and residential uses often operate under significant pressures within city centre sites. It is essential however that arts and cultural facilities are retained as part of the urban life of our cities.
This ongoing study aims to develop of low-cost models of appropriating un-used urban sites for the arts. This study follows a competition-winning project for a temporary gallery and multifunctional space as part of the 2013 Hidden Doors festival.
The site chosen for this particular multimedia arts festival was the Waverley arches, a series of vaulted spaces constructed as part of the formation of market street for storage of railway goods, now derelict and awaiting regeneration as part of the areas wider retail development.
The project aimed to visualise the currently hidden space of the arches by presenting this as a materialisation of their vaulted form within a public space in front of the vaults. As a transparent pocket of air this new 'veiled' vault has the opposite character to the historic vaults being used for various art installations, to compliment their heavy introverted qualities with its lighter extrovert character. This new glowing structure was designed to act as a signpost for the event, accommodate an ephemeral arts installation and act as a breakout space during evening live music events.
Alongside experience delivering temporary visitor facilities, and flexible low-cost structures, the practice is consulting with a number of organisations to develop models that allow cultural institutions to develop 'footholds' within urban sites.