The brief required the renovation and upgrading of the existing galleries to modern environmental standards, together with the provision of a new small gallery, lecture theatre, audio visual space, café, education room, bookshop, offices, storage and plant.
The building is listed as Grade II* and the modifications were conditional on the preservation of the façade to Whitechapel High Street and the conservation of the main gallery spaces in their original form. Most of the modifications concern the secondary accommodation and the principle changes affecting the galleries are to the public stairs and circulation system. These are carried out in such a way that the integrity of the two original gallery spaces is preserved.
The new accommodation is provided both within the envelope of the existing building and in a new extension occupying a narrow strip of land in Angel Alley previously occupied by a 19th Century school building. The new elements are designed in a way that is sympathetic to the existing fabric, without imitating it.
Awards and Exhibitions
- Exhibition of drawings at 9H Gallery 1985
- RIBA North Thames Architectural Society Award 1986
- Civic Trust Award 1987
- Eternit 8th Industrial Prize for Architecture 1988
- RIBA Regional Architecture Award 1988
- Shortlisting for the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion Award for European Architecture Barcelona 1988–1992
FURTHER PICTURES
