Sheffield - 2016 - (P1140668)
Yorkshire Artspace Society
Persistence Works Studios, 21 Brown Street, Sheffield S1 2BS
Persistence Works is our purpose built, award-winning studio complex in Sheffield City Centre. Comprising 53 studios of varying size to accommodate around 80 artists and makers, its six floors are zoned to suit a broad range of making processes, including light industrial work.
Persistence Works, Brown Street, by Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects, 1998–2001
Persistence Works [24, 80], 1998–2001 by Feilden Clegg Bradley is the first purpose-built (as opposed to converted) fine art and crafts studios erected in Britain for many years. Built for the Yorkshire ArtSpace Society, a co-operative which first took over redundant industrial buildings in this area for studios in 1982. Constructed of in situ fair-faced concrete, industrial in scale (fifty-one studios) and austerely dignified in design with minimal surface decoration, a welcome contrast to the Postmodern gimmickry so prevalent elsewhere in the city. Two elements: a long low block facing Brown Street, with cantilevered first floor above a glazed podium, and a parallel six-storey block behind, linked by an impressive glazed atrium [24] through which large art- works can be removed. Angularity is only relaxed in the reception area which has a curved outer wall, bowed like a ship’s prow. Large and noisy activities are restricted to the double-height studios on the ground and first floors, quieter ones such as painting to the upper floors of the rear block. The rear elevation is punctuated by large set-backs at ground and first-floor level to provide balconies to the studios. Artworks integral to the building’s design include a screen of rippling glass panels along the façade by Jeff Bell, the perforated steel gates by Jennie Gill, blue circular lights with steel ‘hairs’ protruding from the façade by Jo Fairfax and the reception area floor by Jasia Szerszynska.
www.sheffieldinformer.co.uk/Pevsner_Walk_Sheffield.pdf
Sheffield - 2016 - (P1140668)
Yorkshire Artspace Society
Persistence Works Studios, 21 Brown Street, Sheffield S1 2BS
Persistence Works is our purpose built, award-winning studio complex in Sheffield City Centre. Comprising 53 studios of varying size to accommodate around 80 artists and makers, its six floors are zoned to suit a broad range of making processes, including light industrial work.
Persistence Works, Brown Street, by Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects, 1998–2001
Persistence Works [24, 80], 1998–2001 by Feilden Clegg Bradley is the first purpose-built (as opposed to converted) fine art and crafts studios erected in Britain for many years. Built for the Yorkshire ArtSpace Society, a co-operative which first took over redundant industrial buildings in this area for studios in 1982. Constructed of in situ fair-faced concrete, industrial in scale (fifty-one studios) and austerely dignified in design with minimal surface decoration, a welcome contrast to the Postmodern gimmickry so prevalent elsewhere in the city. Two elements: a long low block facing Brown Street, with cantilevered first floor above a glazed podium, and a parallel six-storey block behind, linked by an impressive glazed atrium [24] through which large art- works can be removed. Angularity is only relaxed in the reception area which has a curved outer wall, bowed like a ship’s prow. Large and noisy activities are restricted to the double-height studios on the ground and first floors, quieter ones such as painting to the upper floors of the rear block. The rear elevation is punctuated by large set-backs at ground and first-floor level to provide balconies to the studios. Artworks integral to the building’s design include a screen of rippling glass panels along the façade by Jeff Bell, the perforated steel gates by Jennie Gill, blue circular lights with steel ‘hairs’ protruding from the façade by Jo Fairfax and the reception area floor by Jasia Szerszynska.
www.sheffieldinformer.co.uk/Pevsner_Walk_Sheffield.pdf