Synopsis
The remodelling of 20 South Street transforms the historic Stephenson Works into a sculpture workshop and studio with associated gallery spaces, providing a platform for local artists to display their work in the context of its creation. The intervention celebrates the existing, allowing public admission to the previously inaccessible historic site and serves to underline the Works’ current stature as a monument of the industrial age in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
The Boiler Shop
Context
In 1823 George and Robert Stephenson, along with three partners, opened the world’s first purpose built locomotive works on Forth Banks, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 20 South Street is where Robert Stephenson’s engineering works gave birth to the railway age. The famous steam engines ‘Locomotion’ and ‘Rocket’ were built here and the Works subsequently exported locomotives to developing railways all over the world.
The Stephenson Works as existing
Palimpsest; the patina of wear
The character of the building comes from the synthesis of alterations; the marks made by its previous occupants and the layers of history written in the walls. A number of uses have washed over the building, with new parts added and others erased.
"Remodelling is a process of providing a balance between the past and the future… The past provides the already written, the marked ‘canvas’ on which each successive remodelling will find its own place."
– Rodolfo Machado
Concept models exploring palimpsest
Monumentality and intimacy
The building has been used almost exclusively as a transportation manufactory since its inception in the early 19th century. The clamour of machinery, of conversation and activity once flooded the vast Boiler Shop, bringing the space to life. This element returns through the reactivation of the space as a workshop and studio.
"Every building or space has its characteristic sound of intimacy or monumentality, invitation or rejection, hospitality or hostility. A space is understood and appreciated through its echo as much as its visual shape."
– Juhani Pallasmaa
Proposal
The main intervention is a light steel framed unit, enclosed with concrete panels, which serves as the main exhibition space on the upper level and is linked to the café of the mezzanine by two thin walkways. Views from these walkways onto the occupant’s workspace are restricted by a series of reclaimed wooden joists, avoiding any significant disturbance. The workshops and studios on the ground floor are fronted with double glazed hinged doors which allow the occupants to utilise the vast space of the boiler shop and the individual workspaces connectedly.
The intervention galleries
The main gallery occupies the upper level of the steel framed unit. Its route guides visitors along the perimeter of the interior. A clear separation is created between the new and existing which gives the visitor a new and privileged point of view; the inscriptions on the walls are revealed in a new light. The form of the intervention provides a subtle reflection on previous and existing elements; it acknowledges the lost and remaining character of the Stephenson Works.
View from walkways + the Frame Shop exit gallery
Elevation of intervention
The design encourages collaboration, but also accommodates for private work. Two individual workspaces are provided, as well as a larger communal workshop within the enclosed spaces of the steel framed unit. These spaces open out into the open Boiler Shop floor.
The intervention visually separates the public and private aspects of the day-to-day operation, however a connection between the two is maintained; the gallery spaces are open to the environment of the Boiler Shop, allowing the sound of machinery and manual work to be heard by the visitors.
The intervention facilitates the curation of the exhibition; the large concrete panels of the gallery block are set on a track, allowing the face of the intervention to open up. A pulley system has also been implemented to assist the operation. The flexibility of this system satisfies the requirements of the buildings dual function as an event space.
Short section
Technical section
