Runner-up competition scheme for 90 new-build artist studios in the Thames Gateway
Hill Harvey-Wood was commissioned as one of six shortlisted practices to develop ideas for a sustainable artist studio complex. Part of the High House Production Park, a mixed-use creative park set in former farmland in Purfleet, the site sits alongside large hanger-like buildings such as the Royal Opera House’s set production facility as well as smaller repurposed farm buildings.
Hill Harvey-Wood’s scheme dispenses with internal circulation to create a lean structure that maximises the quality and daylight and natural ventilation to 3,300 m2 of studios with the minimum of mechanical services and costs. Studio modules can be combined to accommodate shared studios and the expansion for those with greater need for space.
The building’s exterior appropriates the industrial character of its immediate neighbours, diffusing natural light into the studios via polycarbonate walls, while a sheltered human scaled timber ‘mews’ is found within. This outdoor street is the focus of the creative community; on a daily basis it is a place of encounter and the exchange of ideas, and on special event days such as open-studios it can be a lively social place. The mews sits atop a plinth of heavy-duty garage workshops, accessible directly by vans and cars that have higher capacity for large pieces, equipment and noisy work. An efficient beam and block construction with preformed lintels allow studio divisions to be punched through creating a robust frame that gives way to the tactility of timber mews facades.
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Second Floor