The most visual and exciting part of Heatherwick Studio’s design for Aberystwyth Arts Centre, a department of Aberystwyth University, is literally taking shape at the Centre with the first of the new Creative Arts Business Units nearing completion.Heatherwick’s inventive crumpled stainless steel cladding will cover the eight new units which will be spread amongst a wooded site above the Arts Centre and offer affordable office space for 16 residents, artists and small businesses in the local community. The units are constructed from a simple prefabricated timber frame and the steel cladding will allow the workspace to blend into its surroundings and at different times of the day, become a shimmering copy of its environment. Thomas Heatherwick explains, “We were reluctant to dilute the wooded character of the site by building one big campus-style block. Instead the series of smaller buildings create the feeling of a village community, while their reflective panels bring the buildings to life, mirroring the woodland and grassland which will grow around them.” Aberystwyth Arts Centre’s Director Alan Hewson says, “We’re very happy with the progress to date and look forward to completion later this year. The concept has captured the imagination of arts organisations and artists and half the units have already been pre-let. There is keen interest in the remaining units so anyone who would like to be part of this exciting venture should contact the Arts Centre for more information. “It is our intention to form a creative hub in which artists and arts organisations can thrive and flourish. We want to nurture and develop creative excellence as well as provide new opportunities.” Three of the units have also been set aside for the Arts Centre’s Artist in Residence Scheme, a new initiative aimed at visual and applied artists for a three-month period and funded for three years by Esme Fairbairn Foundation and Wales Arts International. This development has been made possible with support from the Arts Council for Wales Lottery Fund, the Welsh Assembly Government and Aberystwyth University. Heatherwick Studio is one of the UK’s foremost design practices with projects including the world flagship store for French luxury brand Longchamp in New York, Rolling Bridge in London and the RIBA award-winning East Beach Café in Littlehampton. |
| Aberystwyth Arts Centre web site: www.aber.ac.uk/artscentre |
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Wednesday, July 16, 2008 |
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