Swansea
Print Workshop @
Kings
Lane Warehouse
now viewing: Kings Lane Warehouse / The New Building / Architect's Proposal
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Architect's Proposal
The envisioned building will house an ecological fine art printmaking facility, gallery and cafe, a large drawing and lecture space, and a series of independent artist and residency studios to let. At the outset of the study, SPW made clear their desire to focus on the conversion of the Kings Lane Warehouse rather than a new build on the same site.
Sarah Wigglesworth Architects were appointed to conduct this feasibility study because of their aspiration to develop an innovative design incorporating ideals of sustainable building. This approach was appealing to the client for economic as well as environmental reasons. There was a desire to match the ethos of SWA and SPW in housing an ecological print workshop which demonstrates sensitive practice in printmaking in a building which demonstrates the ethical practice of architecture.
It has been expressed not only by the client but also planning officials and the Swansea Housing Association that retaining much of the building’s form is the preferred option. We strongly agree that retaining the building in some form or another is the appropriate way to move forward. Revitalised, it would give an iconic presence and unique address to the Swansea Print Workshop. It would also provide a facility that is well-matched to its building: an enduring and intricately layered craft housed in an enduring and intricately layered building.
In the client’s brief, SPW noted that the character of the existing building matched well with the character of the organisation; that the ethos behind salvaging the warehouse was shared by both client and architect; and that a brief could be adapted to fit the existing structure. In addition, there was a clear desire to retain the character of the existing facades, so a decision was made to keep all major interventions internal. In turn, it was noted that any renovation should maintain and enhance the building’s integrity.
In respect to producing a sustainable design the philosophy has been to retain substantially the external masonry wall and drop a new engineered structure within it. This will stabilise the existing structure and as it reaches high level the wall is peeled back and the new structure and cladding project up from the original masonry enclosure.
The strategy goes as follows: lift the building’s roof, prop up its facades, gut its interiors, and insert within the shell a new object. This new object is foreign; its structure possesses its own logic and materiality. On the lower floors, this object is sometimes visible through existing openings; where the existing shell ends, this new object rises above it.
The existing shell will be pinned back to the new internal structure with exposed steel ties visible on the facades. These ties mark the lines of the new floor plates and express the act of restraining that which has been rendered unstable by the new object within it. The ties, along with the new roof and altered facades, are curious signals of the appropriation and revitalisation of the Kings Lane Warehouse.
The concepts underlying the design are most obviously articulated in the facades, where the existing and new building are juxtaposed, representing the history of the building as well as signifying its revitalisation. We regard the facades as palimpsests, which relates them to the process of printmaking. We have layered and built up elements, scarring the surface to make a permanent impression.