cagm1907
Submission 72
Summary
Our Design for the development of the Cheltenham Gallery is based on 4 key principles:
1)To restore clarity to the plan whilst maximising the interrelationship between the new and existing gallery spaces. This was particularly important in forging a clear spatial relationship between the new building and the key historic spaces of the tower and first floor gallery around it’s central lightwell. The resultant plan is one of two clear axis around a generous central circulation zone. The proposed layout also clearly relates to that of the library, allowing easy integration at a later date.
2)To create a clear visual link through the Gallery building to Chester Walk and the public library beyond.
3)To create an active street level with a clear wide entrance to the gallery as well as a café and shop which could operate independently to the gallery facility. It was considered essential that the Café should reflect the scale of the surrounding regency shopfronts, and the decision to retain the building at 53 Clarence Street was made on this basis. The existing tower is also proposed to be opened up and re-levelled to the street to provide the shop at street level.
4)To create a clear beacon with lit signage at roof level.
The brief was certainly an ambitious one in terms of spatial requirements, though efficiency dictated that major new gallery and concentrated office spaces should be stacked in a single volume. Whilst a basement was considered necessary, it was important that it received natural light.
It was considered that the 1989 building is not visually impervious enough for the status of the gallery and as demanded by the brief. It is proposed to strip the building back to its bones and adapt it to form the key transparent circulation axis of the redeveloped gallery. This circulation space is open enough at ground level to serve as an important community gallery and interface.
The essential control of light levels to the gallery spaces was dictated in accordance with a clear logic. It was considered important to restore the window openings to the historic gallery spaces, and that suitable permanent collection galleries would be housed in these light controlled rooms. The new galleries with double height ceilings and the basement educational areas are all lit from a central courtyard to allow for the careful control of indirect light as desired. The transparency of the central axis at ground level was considered essential to produce a permeable plan, though the upper level central galleries also contain no openings except onto the courtyard lightwell. This centralised control of light also helps to create an economical and thermally efficient building envelope. The desire to provide significant concentrated office space and the desire to take advantage of views of the surrounding townscape dictated that a glowing glass box of office space be located at roof level with an external terrace area to the street.
The cladding of the new building would be a simple palette of glass and grey Welsh slate slabs. Slate is the predominant natural roofing material of regency Cheltenham and the existing gallery building. The resultant design is a bold composition of solid and transparent volumes that restores the dignity of the ornate Victorian Gallery building, yet relates closely in scale to its regency neighbours. From a distance the glazed top office floor of the building will glow along with backlit signage it supports, making its prominence felt locally.
Submission 72
Summary
Our Design for the development of the Cheltenham Gallery is based on 4 key principles:
1)To restore clarity to the plan whilst maximising the interrelationship between the new and existing gallery spaces. This was particularly important in forging a clear spatial relationship between the new building and the key historic spaces of the tower and first floor gallery around it’s central lightwell. The resultant plan is one of two clear axis around a generous central circulation zone. The proposed layout also clearly relates to that of the library, allowing easy integration at a later date.
2)To create a clear visual link through the Gallery building to Chester Walk and the public library beyond.
3)To create an active street level with a clear wide entrance to the gallery as well as a café and shop which could operate independently to the gallery facility. It was considered essential that the Café should reflect the scale of the surrounding regency shopfronts, and the decision to retain the building at 53 Clarence Street was made on this basis. The existing tower is also proposed to be opened up and re-levelled to the street to provide the shop at street level.
4)To create a clear beacon with lit signage at roof level.
The brief was certainly an ambitious one in terms of spatial requirements, though efficiency dictated that major new gallery and concentrated office spaces should be stacked in a single volume. Whilst a basement was considered necessary, it was important that it received natural light.
It was considered that the 1989 building is not visually impervious enough for the status of the gallery and as demanded by the brief. It is proposed to strip the building back to its bones and adapt it to form the key transparent circulation axis of the redeveloped gallery. This circulation space is open enough at ground level to serve as an important community gallery and interface.
The essential control of light levels to the gallery spaces was dictated in accordance with a clear logic. It was considered important to restore the window openings to the historic gallery spaces, and that suitable permanent collection galleries would be housed in these light controlled rooms. The new galleries with double height ceilings and the basement educational areas are all lit from a central courtyard to allow for the careful control of indirect light as desired. The transparency of the central axis at ground level was considered essential to produce a permeable plan, though the upper level central galleries also contain no openings except onto the courtyard lightwell. This centralised control of light also helps to create an economical and thermally efficient building envelope. The desire to provide significant concentrated office space and the desire to take advantage of views of the surrounding townscape dictated that a glowing glass box of office space be located at roof level with an external terrace area to the street.
The cladding of the new building would be a simple palette of glass and grey Welsh slate slabs. Slate is the predominant natural roofing material of regency Cheltenham and the existing gallery building. The resultant design is a bold composition of solid and transparent volumes that restores the dignity of the ornate Victorian Gallery building, yet relates closely in scale to its regency neighbours. From a distance the glazed top office floor of the building will glow along with backlit signage it supports, making its prominence felt locally.