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Seizure

Project Details

£100,000 to £249,999

New Build

Practice

Adam Khan Architects

Unit 31 , Regent Studios , 8 Andrews Road , LONDON , E8 4QN

The new gallery required a sensitive response to its setting amongst a rich ensemble of buildings, gardens and landscape. At the same time the artwork imposed very particular conservation requirements - the mass of copper sulphate crystals required precise environmental conditions for its long term stability. The design solution reconciles these complex needs using the historical precedents of grotto, folly and cave. A robust contemporary interpretation of these precedents draws on agricultural and industrial building techniques, but used with refinement and grace. The new gallery was made for one of the most celebrated and distinctive artworks of recent years - ’Seizure by Roger Hiorns. The relocation of the work to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park involved a fundamental re-invention of the work, working closely with the artist. Poised on the threshold between park and service yard, the project explores a condition of instability. Systematic use of pre-cast elements references the original site but can clearly be dismantled, a key part of the brief.