Building Design, the architects magazine, has always shown a keen interest in the design of Turner Contemporary, and news has reached me of a quite excellent interview they’ve conducted with Victoria Pomery, Director of Turner Contemporary.

Victoria Pomery speaks extremely honestly about the Turner Contemporary project, discussing a broad range of topics that range from the crisis that surrounded the axing of Snøhetta and Spence’s original gallery design to the fast paced progress of the current David Chipperfield plans.

She describes the emotions of the scrapping of Snohetta and Spence’s design:

It was a massive shock, almost like someone dying. You work with something for a long time, you’re living and breathing it — then it doesn’t happen. It put a real strain on the team here. 2006 was a very difficult year.

And with regards to more recent progress:

Margate has some of the most deprived wards in the South-east. Lots of things can help turn a town around, it’s not just about new buildings. Our commitment to working with the community, as well as our education and training remit, are very important.

Other projects in the next 10-20 years will also help to move things forward, including plans for the Dreamland site and the lido, the government’s housing agenda and the future of key spaces such as the M&S building on the High Street, which is currently our project space.

It’s about thinking differently about the town — can it be that seaside resort again? If not, it should aim at something else. Obviously, I want the gallery to be a fantastic cultural institution. I also want it to support the wider regeneration of the town and east Kent, but it’s never going to be easy or fast. Turner Contemporary has done a lot to create confidence in the town, and change is afoot.

Whatever you make of Turner Contemporary, this interview is a must read for anyone with a passing interest in the project. Bravo to bdonline for their continued interest in Margate. Click here to read the full interview with Victoria.

And of course, the excellent Margate Rocks kicked off yesterday with a full day of events, and will continue to work to bring you amazing contemporary art throughout the next week and a bit! Make sure you keep up with the programme calendar!

Please do email me with your reviews, videos and photos of Margate Rocks!

News reached me today that Turner Contemporary and University College for Creative Arts at Canterbury are looking for people interested in taking a free twelve week art and design course, on Mondays and Tuesdays from 21st April, 10am till 2pm.

Working with artists Sara Wicks and Kevin Jones , you will be able to develop your creative skills through experimenting with art materials, visits to leading London galleries and designing an exhibition of your own work in Turner Contemporary’s Droit House gallery.

Esther Collins at Turner Contemporary describes the course as ‘a fantastic opportunity for people to develop their creative skills and to get a taste of life working in the Arts’.

At the end you will be awarded a nationally recognised qualification which could lead on to other courses or jobs in the arts. No news on how many places are available, so if you are interested in participating, get in there quickly and contact Esther Collins on 01843 294305 or email ecollins@turnercontemporary.org

Frankly, I think this is an amazing opportunity for anyone interested in art and design - I attended University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury for part of my art education, and couldn’t recommend it enough.

News reached us today that planning approval has been granted for David Chipperfield’s design for Turner Contemporary. Work will begin on construction this autumn, ahead of an opening date of 2010.

In support of this, work by Kent Highway Services to transform Fort Hill to a single carriageway will begin in April. The work is intended to improve connectivity between the Old Town and the seafront and will improve pedestrian access to the gallery site, the stone pier and the rest of the Rendezvous site. The area around the entrance to the Rendezvous site will be landscaped and high quality materials will be used for kerbing and footways.

KCC Cabinet Member for Community Services Mike Hill said:

“This is a tremendous step forward and we remain on schedule for the creation of this landmark building for Margate. A vast amount of work has gone into this project and we will soon see it really taking shape using David Chipperfield’s superb designs.”

Planning approval is great news for the town - finally, investors and businesses can start work with a greater confidence in Margate’s future.

If you’re interested, it’s well worth having a look at the planning application by visiting the UKPlanning website, and searching for application reference 07/1600.

Now the credits have rolled for the final time, the Thanet Extra reports that Roy Jackson, the manager of Dreamland Cinema believes the cinema would make an ideal alternative site for Turner Contemporary.

Mr Jackson is absolutely right in his view that the art deco cinema building deserves a grand future, but I’m not sure I agree that it ”fits the bill as a high profile centre for the Turner Contemporary”.

The Dreamland ‘fin’ is an utterly iconic fixture of Margate seafront, but totally unsuitable as a gallery. In terms of modern gallery aesthetics and vision, the cinema building falls short of what is required - if Margate is to house a successful gallery it should be in a building fit for purpose. It must encourage contemporary art (both internationally and locally) and act as a catalyst for the further regeneration of Margate.

What is certain is that considerable thought must now be directed towards this fantastic old building and it’s future.

The newly renovated Theatre Royal played host to a packed presentation of the finished Turner Contemporary design yesterday evening. In the helm was David Chipperfield, the project architect and recent recipient of the Stirling Prize for Architecture.

We had an exclusive few minutes to speak to David before his presentation, and asked him to explain the progress he and his team made since the last presentation.

I think we’ve developed the project in a very positive way - the figure of the building now has much more character, its got an identity now, which I think was slightly lacking in the preliminary scheme.
To be fair, I think in early schemes we were consumed with the site issue, whereas in the last month we’ve been much more concerned with the working of the building and how we can give it character, and I think that’s gone very well and I think it will be a much more acceptable solution – I think its actually quite a friendly building.

Copyright David Chipperfield Architects Ltd

So what to make of the design? Throughout the entire process Chipperfield has rallied hard against a blind focus towards ‘iconic buildings’ - he is much more concerned with producing beautiful buildings that first of all suit their purpose and surroundings.

What is fundamental to this project is that the gallery must become an important public building – it must be a building that serves the community. So we are looking at what it will do for Margate and how it will regenerate the town (and I am convinced it will) - but first of all it must serve the community – and that’s not an easy thing to get right - we must confront the issues of how to make sure that this building is a popular place that people want to go to.

I could go on and on about the technical specs of the design, but really I should cut to the chase and get to the core of my post - Turner Contemporary is beautiful.

The six interlocking blocks that form the building will be clad in a remarkable opaque milky glass that will give the building an ‘almost magical’ appearance. The glass is totally recycled and about an inch thick, which means it will be durable enough to cope with it’s exposed position as well as giving the building the unique airy appearance.

What should we clad this building in? It was a struggle – there were a lot of considerations – the biggest was the durability of the building in such an exposed place – how does a building weather in our climate and how do we deal with it? We looked at lots of different materials, and finally we felt we should talk about light again and went full circle back to Turner’s paintings – if the building is trying to capture light inside shouldn’t it also be concerned with capturing it outside?
So we looked towards a solution which is a white recycled glass – thick glass, like slabs of marble – panels of white glass – and this starts to show the building on the one hand as real, but slightly magical – the milky whiteness will glow on the best days but also on the grey days.

Chipperfield described the design process as like making a ‘light cocktail’ - how could they make the most of the light that Margate is famous for? In the previous presentation he mentioned that they were considering giving more shape to the roofline of the building - and it is clear that they have. Each interlocking block now has a distinct silhouette:

The idea of light became more and more of our agenda – if we are to refer to Turner our responsibility is to make reference to him who more than any other artist tried to capture the qualities of light. We were interested in making the building bigger in form and stop it from being a simple box – and it is coincidence in a way if we can make the most of the views from the north and take this ‘friendly’ light (light is not friendly to museums) – this configuration allows us to bring light in but it also starts to give the building a character, a figure, a silhouette.

Copyright David Chipperfield Architects Ltd

Over the next few days I hope to give some more thought towards the design and post some of the finer details that we heard about on the evening - and as with the last presentation I will endeavour to make audio recordings of the presentation available.

I’m hugely impressed with the appearance of the building, and equally as impressed that David Chipperfield continues to take the time to take part in these consultations. Roger Gale didn’t go far wrong in describing them as a “master class in architecture”.

I could do no better than to end with Chipperfield’s closing sentences which serve as a fitting tribute to the project so far :

Building something like this is a test of the people – this isn’t something easy, otherwise the country would be full of interesting buildings – things conspire against projects like these – a building doesn’t just just land and show up one day – the delivery of the building is part of the thing itself. It needs inspiration, it needs a community that wants the building – you need to go against the grain, it needs the community to help and to want it.

Following his last presentation on 18th June, David Chipperfield will be presenting the latest T.C. designs at 6:30pm on Tuesday 16th October 2007 at the Theatre Royal, Margate.

It will be interesting to see how the design has progressed since the last presentation, but if you can’t make it, you can be sure that we’ll cover all the developments here.

As always, these events are extremely popular, so booking is essential.
Reserve seats by emailing rfurlong@turnercontemporary.org or telephone 01843 294363.

Just a quick post from me today, to let you know about an article in today’s Daily Telegraph in which Dominic Bradbury talks to David Chipperfield about Turner Contemporary. It’s a worthwhile read.

British architect David Chipperfield is renowned for daring buildings set between land and sea - and his next is set to revitalise Margate. He talks to Dominic Bradbury

Margate is a place that could do with a bit of help. Its harbour front and stone pier feel neglected and disconnected from the rest of the town, while the rest of the seafront is dominated by amusement arcades and unloved blocks of flats with optimistic names such as The Arcadian.

Read more at the Telegraph website.

I’m proud to announce we are the first online/print source to display a full selection of hi-resolution images of the new Turner Contemporary building - a big thank you to the staff over at TC for these.

Bloggers and commentators were quick off the mark to analyse the designs based only on the small image released yesterday, so I hope seeing these designs on a larger scale will help give a truer representation of the building. (To repeat what David Chipperfield said yesterday - this is not the completed design, but in order to present these ideas to the public they are forced to give them an air of finality.)

(For full information and audio recordings of last night’s David Chipperfield presentation, scroll down to see our earlier post)

View of Turner Contemporary from the sea front.

View of model from sea.

Sketch of balcony and terraces by David Chipperfield.

View from the first floor terrace.

All images Copyright David Chipperfield Architects Ltd.

It’s arrived, but not quite at the state some of us expected. Even though we will have to wait several more months to see the completed design, David Chipperfield’s presentation seemed to hit the mark for most of the audience who crammed into the Winter Gardens to see the latest plans for Turner Contemporary.

Mike Hill opened the presentation with a brief introduction to the project. He spoke passionately about his role in the project, and despite the usual comparisons with St Ives and Bilbao, he came across as someone with a genuine determination to succeed.

Following Mike Hill’s introduction, it was time for Victoria Pomery, director of Turner Contemporary to reiterate the Turner vision. She estimated that 130,000 visitors would visit in an average year, bringing at least £2 million for local businesses each year - the gallery itself would have a permenant staff of 35.

“The building has been driven by the need to design a gallery for presenting historical and contemporary art of the highest calibre that also offers a fantastic visitor experience. What we’re creating is a destination, and a programme, that visitors will want to return to again and again.”

Most crucially she outlined the work it will hold - a range of temporary modern and classic exhibitions, and guaranteed that there would be works by Turner present all year round (sourced from the Tate and private collections). Construction is scheduled to begin at the end of summer 2008, with the gallery open to the public in 2010.

Eventually, David Chipperfield, the guest speaker for the evening, took to the stage. Below is a full recording of his talk, but here’s some of the most important points.

• The design is still in the process of development - there is still work to do.
• “The rendezvous site is blessed. We couldn’t have a more beautiful view of the sea”
• One his major challenges is to connect the site with the town. The fort hill carriage way may be altered to make the gallery more accessible from the old town.
• They have quite a limited area to build in - they have to make room for the lifeboat slipway.
• Yet with every problem comes a hidden benefit - they have to set the building 2 meters above the ground level to avoid flooding, so they are planning a large ramp which will act as as access to gallery as well as acting as a large public square/terrace with outdoor artwork.
• He wants to build a “cultural community centre” - his has no problem attracting people already into art, his main aim is to draw those who aren’t.
• On the previous design: “You can make an idea of what you want to build - but without rubbing salt in the wound - to some degree that was the strategy of the first project - there was a bold beautiful idea that then tried to be realised - but the technical issues were not black and white” - Chipperfield has worked the other way round - he has accepted the complicated conditions of the site and worked from that basis.
• There are conflicts between designing a building and a gallery - gallery curators don’t like windows, but architects and visitors do. He has to find the middle ground between these points.
• There will be a large cantilever balcony/terrace on the north (sea) side.
• There will be three floors. The ground floor will be a multifunction space (including a lecture space, cafe and shop), the first floor will be an educational/didactic floor and the second floor will be an environmentally controlled “sanctuary” where works by Turner and other major exhibitions will be displayed.

David Chipperfield is the architect of the moment - he has designed some of the best recent examples of contemporary architecture and is involved in the creation of countless more. He was down to earth, rational, witty and pragmatic - he has an architectural reputation for perfection - his bold design for Turner Contemporary showed clarity and confidence.

“We are very excited with the designs. The challenge has been to create a building that responds to the opportunities of the site. We are confident that this design makes the most of site’s potential and remains sensitive to its unique setting.”

With barely time to catch his breath, the audience was permitted to put their questions to David and the other speakers (as well as other officials including Roger Gale and Sandy Ezekiel). Some of the more interesting points raised during the Q&A session included:

• The issue of transport between Margate station and Turner Contemporary. Sandy Ezekiel confirmed that investigations are being made into a shuttle service and a walkway between the two sites.
• Mike Hill stated that a landscape architect is involved in devising a plan for the rest of the rendezvous site - we can expect a total transformation of the whole area.
• Work is already under way to connect the Rendezvous site with the old town - at the moment it will be done with schemes of lighting, paving and banners - closer to the time this should become more substantial (including alterations to the fort hill carriage way).

The best exchange of all was from Wendy Allen - one of a trio of curmudgeons from the Independent Action Party who had been generally discourteous throughout the entire presentation. She offered a wonderfully turgid record of her local campaigning, from which she concluded that 99% of Thanet residents were opposed to the gallery, to which she received a strong rebuke from Sandy Ezekiel and Mike Hill (who in turn received the biggest applause of the evening). You will understand I don’t mind criticism towards the plan, but this was particularly cringe worthy - here it is in it’s glorious entirety.

Until the embargo on images is lifted, I am unable to post the latest plans, but they will be posted as soon as they become available.

Look back over the history of the Turner Contemporary, and see the events that stand out:

• The unveiling of the Snøhetta + Spence “blob” (31.10.01)
• Installation and subsequent washing-away of the test sculpture (24.01.05)
• U-turn over Snøhetta + Spence design - “back to the drawing board” (08.02.06)
• David Chipperfield chosen to design new gallery with £15 million budget (27.07.06)

After nearly a year of waiting, we will soon be able to add the “unveiling of the new Turner Contemporary design” to the time line.

David Chipperfield will present the designs for the new Turner Contemporary tonight (18th June). Turneround Margate will be present at the presentation, and we plan to bring you a comprehensive digest of all essential information, opinions and plans very soon after.

The presentation begins at 6pm till 8pm at the Margate Winter Gardens. Entrance is free but space is limited. It will be followed by an exhibition of the designs at Droit House, open Friday to Sunday, 10.00 - 17.00 from 22 June until 2 September.

Don’t forget to read our guide to some of David Chipperfield’s previous designs and what we could expect for Margate.

Mike Nelson who has previously exhibited in Margate has been named in this year’s Turner Prize shortlist.

His 2005 installation “Spanning Fort Road and Mansion Street - Between a Formula and a Code”, which was commissioned by Turner Contemporary, saw Nelson occupy a large portion of Fort Road (just off Margate seafront) to create a dark, mysterious maze of hydroponics and primitive dark rooms.

The installation, called Spanning Fort Road and Mansion Street: Between a Formula and a Code, also includes rooms kitted out as primitive darkrooms, hung with hundreds of photographs of the sea, sky and buildings of Margate, as if the result of a covert, obscure and possibly deranged surveillance project.

Nelson said at the time,

“Maybe people will hate it here… But I think people like digging round in old spaces. If they can get past the horrible idea it’s art I think they’ll enjoy it.”

Regardless of your view towards the Turner Prize, it is hugely encouraging to see that Margate continually attracts artists like Nelson, who go on to great acclaim.

Other Turner winners and nominees to work in Margate include Antony Gormley (1994 winner and proponent of The Margate Exodus), Jeremy Deller (2004 winner behind the Steam-Powered Internet Machine) and of course Tracy Emin (1999 nominee) - I’d better give Turner, the man himself, a mention too!

Read about “Spanning Fort Road and Mansion Street - Between a Formula and a Code” on Guardian Unlimited (and more on Mike Nelson) and this years Turner Prize shortlist at BBC News.

Update 24/05: Victoria Pomery, Director of Turner Contemporary said

“We are delighted that Mike Nelson is on this year’s Turner Prize shortlist and are committed to working with artists to create new and innovative works in Margate”.

Earlier this year, in a bold attempt to forget Snøhetta + Spence’s waveform vision for Margate, KCC made the decision to entrust David Chipperfield Architects with the design for the Turner Contemporary.

Upon their appointment, the firm, known for their understated brand of modernism, announced they could have the gallery open by 2010 on a budget of £17.4m. With this in mind, we decided to comment on some of their previous projects and make a suggestion or two as to what we might expect for Margate.

America’s Cup Building
Valencia, 2006

One of Chipperfield’s most recent buildings, the America’s Cup Building was designed, built and opened in staggeringly short 11 months. The building’s setting is much alike the Turner Contemporary’s - so we can see what might crossover to Margate.

The America’s Cup Building is constructed from steel, concrete and glass; the seafront location of the Turner Contemporary means it will likely use similarly robust materials. Also notice that the main building is raised up from it’s exposed position on the water’s edge. I rather expect we will end up with something more solid and less open air since the respective uses and climates are so different in these cases.

Estepona Theatre
Estepona, Spain, 2009

Chipperfield’s sweeping design for the Estepona Theatre wouldn’t look out of place along side the modernist houses at Palm Bay.
Chipperfield despises insular buildings that have no “dialogue with anything around them, or with history” - so there is the strong possibility of a restrained building that spreads out and makes use of other elements of the site.

It is a happy accident that KCC, determined to commission an iconic building for Margate, have appointed an architect who sensibly opposes building architectural “icons” for the sake of it.

“I’m not purposely avoiding making an icon. An icon just happens… Clients now say that they are looking for an icon, and I know that means it has got to look blobby… Design objects of the 20th century became icons because of how beautiful they were or how successful they were. Now we have to have an instant icon. It has to say it’s an icon at the very point of delivery.”

Chipperfield’s buildings are the antithesis of the waveform architecture trend - they create buildings of restraint, purpose and elegance.

In a twist of fate Margate has found a man level-headed enough to understand the importance of doing it right.

“I think that the point of being an architect is to help raise the experience of everyday living, even a little… None of this means designing funny shapes or getting politicians to go ‘wow’ or making the media think you’re the new thing. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of experience, and a lot of unfashionable thought”.

Through David Chipperfield, Margate will get a beautiful, impressive (and dare we say it, iconic) building to be proud of.

Read more of our sources at:
The Guardian : “In Britain, money and marketing are what matters most”
Icon: David Chipperfield
David Chipperfield Architects
City Of Sound: Chipperfield on Building for Regeneration