Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop offers a base
for artists providing low cost studios, exhibition space and workshops. Having
been based on Hawthornvale in Newhaven for more than 20 years, being housed
until recently in a draughty old railway shed, ESW began a campaign to raise
funds for a new facility to better suit the needs of the sculptors and artists.
With significant contributions from Creative Scotland, Lottery Funding and a
land gift from City of Edinburgh Council work could finally begin.
Phase 1: Bill Scott Sculpture Centre
The new sculpture centre sits perched on the
South side of Hawthornvale and straddles the embankment of the disused railway
cutting, now a cycle path, adjacent to the site of the old railway shed which
allowed a smooth phasing between buildings for the artists. This building
consists of 30 artists studios, large workshops for wood, metal, plaster and
mixed media gathered around a covered external yard, an education space,
project room, administrative offices, meeting rooms and two new self serviced
apartments for visiting lecturers and artists in residence.
The workshops are located at ground level,
within the cutting, for discreet and easy servicing and keeping the more
industrial activities away from the residential street. These workshops open
out onto the yard, a covered external workspace wrapped in Orsogril screens
which provides glimpses out to the cycle path whilst obliquely screening the
facilities.
Robust, flexible and economical industrial
construction methods were employed to allow the internal spaces to be adapted
to suit the future needs of the building users.
During the construction of Phase 1 Foundation
Scotland launched a competition on behalf of an anonymous donor for a £3m prize
to an arts organisation in Edinburgh for the advancement of arts in Scotland.
ESW and SHA began developing proposals for a second building providing spaces
for research, cross disciplinary activities and public engagement – a cultural
hub – with this specific funding in mind. The team won the competition prize in
2010, judged by Izi Metzstein, Lord William Prosser, Sir Charles McKean and Colin
Liddell.
Phase 2: Creative Laboratories
The buildings are arranged around a new
public arena, purposely complementing the adjacent Workshop facilities and
embedded within the railway cutting, creating opportunities to view down into
the courtyard from the street. A new public space, promoting art in the city of
Edinburgh, allows for the flourishing and exposition of the process and work
produced by ESW and its associated artists on a local, national and
international level.
An architectural promenade surrounds the
outdoor arena, linking a series of spaces with different spatial qualities. The
building provides a range of low maintenance internal and external
environments, from small to large scale for events and the production and
exhibition of work. These spaces are predominantly clad in brick – a robust low
maintenance material complementing the proposed Workshop whilst echoing the
industrial heritage of Hawthornvale.
The new structure is offset from the cycle
path, maintaining a band of mature trees and vegetation around the perimeter,
with a stepped route between the Workshop and Creative Laboratories providing
access between Hawthornvale and the cycle path, from which a new cafe space
offers visitors, passersby and artists alike a place to sit, mix and meet.
A 28m tall campanile completes the project,
acting both as a gateway to the facility and as a beacon visible to the wider
city beyond.
Simplified
Brief:
The brief for the Creative Laboratories
called for a design that would:
• Support excellence in contemporary arts
practice by providing the time and inspiring creative spaces needed to pursue
ambitious high level artist-led research and project-development.
• Establish a vibrant cultural hub by
offering a dynamic and inspiring creative space which attracts artists, thinkers,
creative minds and innovators from across the cultural, academic, public and
private sectors.
• Support community development by creating
new ways for the public to access the learning, personal and community
development benefits of engaging with contemporary sculpture, and by creating
an inspiring sustainable development which directly benefits the local area.
The building should contain the following
spaces:
• A large external space for working and
events that can be used in a variety of ways.
• Semi covered external “studios” that can be
used flexibly.
• Two large internal studio spaces.
• A social hub which could contain a café and
kitchen.
• Ancillary
accommodation including stores and WCs.