The new Turner Contemporary gallery is located on a prominent seafront in Margate, on the north coast of Kent where a guesthouse frequented by the English painter JMW Turner once stood. The client’s brief was to create a new series of inspiring and inclusive spaces which celebrate Margate’s links with Turner and respond to the needs of a wide spectrum of people of all ages, including artists, academics, residents, and visitors to Margate. The two storey building has been designed to maximise both the dramatic setting between sea and land and the extraordinary light conditions unique to this area which inspired Turner well over a century ago. It is formed of six identical crystalline volumes with mono-pitched roofs providing north light to the gallery spaces and revealing daily and seasonal light changes. Direct daylight enters from clerestory windows on the north side and diffused sunlight from the skylights above. Generous windows, reinforced to cope with the often severe weather, offer spectacular views out to the sea and surroundings, enabling visitors to locate themselves within the broader landscape and encouraging a sense of participation in the community. With uninterrupted sightlines across a sandy beach to the railway station, the gallery is an unmistakeable focal point on the horizon for arriving visitors. The gallery has no permanent collection and instead presents a changing programme of historic and contemporary works as well as educational and cultural events with a broad community appeal. Gallery and exhibition spaces are located on the first floor, along with a learning studio with sea views that forms part of the climate controlled zone and could be used as exhibition space, as well as administration offices with their own lift in the eastern part of the building. On the ground floor, a cafe with kitchen and WC’s and the gallery reception can be independently accessed through a shared wind lobby from the terrace. An event space that can be subdivided into three smaller rooms and other public facilities are located east of the gallery reception. The building is constructed with a concrete frame and a skin of acid etched low iron glass panels reinforced with white opaque PVB interlayer, and raised on a plinth to protect against the occasional flooding experienced on the seafront site. The glass envelope was chosen to withstand the corrosive nature of the sea, humidity levels, high wind speeds, and the occasional wave topping over the entire building. Internally, the material palette is simplified to hard wearing screed floors and dry lining to facilitate the hanging of changing exhibitions. The surrounding public realm, constrained by the need to provide parking for persons with reduced mobility while maintaining access across the site for the RNLI staff and emergency crews, is paved in dark basalt setts which can cope with the heavy loading and frequent wear.