Hasta La Ideas

A mobile theatre will visit Clerkenwell Design Week in London this May, inspired by a miniature concert hall above a coal-shed that used to be in the area in the seventeenth century.

Designed by London studio Aberrant Architecture, the Tiny Travelling Theatre will draw on contemporary accounts to replicate some of the attributes of the original coal shed, which was home to Clerkenwell resident and coal salesman Thomas Britton. He lived above his coal shed and started putting on a music club with a harpsichord and organ in 1678.

Design fair Clerkenwell Design Week will take place from 22 to 24 May. See all our stories from last year’s event here.

Here’s some more explanation from Aberrant Architecture:

“The SMALL-COAL-MAN’S tiny travelling theatre”

The original site of the medieval well, from which Clerkenwell derives its name, is located on the northern edge of Clerkenwell Green. Notoriously, this marks the spot where mystery plays, wrestling matches, radical performances and other “dramatic representations” of a secretive nature have regularly occurred for centuries.

Indeed it is claimed that “the secret life of Clerkenwell, like its well, goes very deep. Many of its inhabitants seem to have imbibed the quixotic and fevered atmosphere of the area” and consequently strange existences have been allowed to flourish.

Thomas Britton

“Perhaps the most curious and notable resident of Clerkenwell was Thomas Britton, who was known everywhere as “the musical small-coal man”. Britton was a travelling coal salesman, who lived above his coal shed, and in 1678 he founded a musical club, The SMALL-COAL-MAN’S Musick Club, by transforming his house into a tiny concert hall which featured a harpsichord & organ.

Despite the unglamorous “hovel-esque” venue, accessible only by a steep external staircase, the relative novelty of the series of concerts attracted a considerable audience from across all sectors of society. A wide range of artists came to play at Britton‟s house, from amateurs giving their first ever public performances to micro concerts from all the great musicians of the day, even the great George Frideric Handel. Britton designed his own programmes and “amassed a large music collection and selection of musical instruments for the gatherings.” At first the concerts were free, with coffee being sold at a penny a cup. Later concerts where paid for by an annual subscription of ten shillings.

Tiny Travelling Theatre

For Clerkenwell design week we propose to reawaken Britton’s maverick idea of a miniature concert hall for Clerkenwell and reimagine it as a tiny travelling theatre. Our new “SMALL-COAL-MAN’S tiny travelling theatre” will occupy multiple locations around the area and will host a series of events that revive & explore the intense emotion of a micro live performance. Inspired by small one-to-one spaces, such as a confessional booth or a peepshow, the “SMALL-COAL-MAN’S tiny travelling theatre” will create a direct and intimate interaction of artists with a minute audience of 2- 6 people.

Like Britton’s eccentric original we imagine that the program of events will be a mixture of unknowns making their debuts and established “stars”. Visually the tiny travelling theatre will be an explorative structure taking its cues from the ad-hoc & informal descriptions of the original with its “henhouse ladder”, interior “not much higher than a canary-pipe” and window “but very little bigger than the Bung-hole of a Cask”.

Slideshow: no two items of furniture or pieces of tableware are the same in the dining room that British artist Martin Creed has designed at London restaurant Sketch.

The Gallery is the first in a series of artist-designed spaces planned at the multi-restaurant venue.

Marble tiles zig-zag across the floor, while squares and stripes are painted in bold colours across the walls.

Read all our stories about restaurants and bars here.

Photography is by Ed Reeve.

Here’s some more information from Sketch:

Martin Creed at Sketch

“I want the whole world to be in it”
Martin Creed, 2011

Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed has transformed the Gallery restaurant at London’s iconic Sketch, in the first of a new long-term programme of artist-conceived restaurants at the venue. The project seeks to blur the boundaries between art, food, design and functionality. Martin Creed at Sketch launches today, 1 March 2012, coinciding with Sketch’s 10th anniversary and a pivotal year for London as a cultural centre.

Through a series of new works both functional and decorative, Creed has created an environment that is at once as an exhibition, an artwork, a restaurant and an Events space. Exemplary of the logical and welcoming systems that recur throughout his work, the floor, walls and furniture take the form of new artworks inspired by the boundaries of art and functionality.

Work No. 1347 consists of 96 different types of marble, in a formation of zigzagging lines across the floor, along with a series of paintings and large-scale wall paintings. Work No. 1343 is a new work specially made for the restaurant in which every single piece of cutlery, glass, chair and table is different. This work brings together a mix of the mass produced and handcrafted, from classic antiques to contemporary design from all around the world.

Sketch’s co-founder and three Michelin starred chef Pierre Gagnaire has designed a new menu in unison with the artist’s concerns, allowing freedom to experiment and create dishes directly influenced by Creed’s artwork. The series of artist restaurants at Sketch will look to establish a forum for artists’ imaginings and innovations in art, design and social space, creating playful propositions for interaction with art in the public realm.

Sketch was inaugurated in 2002 by restaurateur Mourad Mazouz and masterchef Pierre Gagnaire. Mazouz’s commitment to art and design led to the establishment of Sketch Gallery Foundation as a non-profit arts organisation and Sketch has hosted over fifty major exhibitions of moving image over the last decade including work by Carsten Nicolai, John Baldessari, Jonas Mekas and Sylvie Fleury, as well as numerous off-site projects such as the CINACT series at The Gate Cinema in collaboration with Serpentine Gallery. Since 2006 the exhibitions programme has been curated by Victoria Brooks.

With this new initiative sketch continues to contribute to 9 Conduit Street’s rich heritage as a destination for experimentation in design, art and architecture having previously housed the headquarters of RIBA and the Atelier of Christian Dior.

Slideshow: people strolling by this brick wall in London might miss the disguised entrance to a secret office and home.

The wall appears to merely bridge the gap between two existing properties, but is in fact a screen across the entire facade of a building designed by British architect Jack Woolley.

Located on the site of a former carpenter’s workshop, Old Workshop has two storeys, one of which is completely submerged underground.

An office and meeting room occupy the ground floor level, while the basement contains a residence that is naturally lit through a row of walk-on skylights.

Pine salvaged from the former workshop roof was used to construct cabinets in the kitchen.

If you’re intrigued by secret entrances, check out our story about a disguised passageway concealed behind a mirror.

Photography is by David Grandorge, apart from where otherwise stated.

The text below is from Jack Woolley:

Old Workshop

A project to rehabilitate a derelict carpenter’s workshop which had been used to make walking sticks by doubling its size and converting it to live/work.

The original workshop was built behind a London stock brick wall that linked the neighbouring terraces.

This wall and the gap above it that framed a landscape of tree canopies were important to the integrity of the streetscape and a decision was taken to preserve them.

This led to a bespoke door design piercing the wall to form a new entrance – integrated into the brickwork but visible only as a rectangular witness line.

To increase the habitable volume, a new basement level with generous ceiling heights was inserted under the original, but offset horizontally to allow daylight to penetrate through walk on roof lights running along its length.

Materials salvaged from the derelict structure were used to restore the original building with small interventions to accommodate changed requirements of day lighting, thermal efficiency and circulation.

Where possible finishes were integrated into the structure – for example, the floor screed was polished, eliminating the need for a secondary finish.

Pitch pine boards salvaged from the roof were dried out, lightly planed and used to make kitchen units.

To extend the useful life of the building, it had to function in a variety of live:work usage ratios as needs changed.

The way the spaces could be used was planned and services were provided to enable different combinations to be adopted easily.

Architect: Jack Woolley
Structural Engineer: C&R Design

Site address: Old Workshop, Almorah Road, London N1 3EN
Timetable: riba stages a-d 12/08 – 05/09, riba stages e-h 05/09 – 02/10, riba stages j-k 03/10 – 06/11

Slideshow: one of Antony Gormley‘s sculptures appears to guard the entrance to the British artist’s new galvanised steel workshop, designed by London architects Carmody Groarke.

The new space is an extension to Gormley’s existing studio in Kings Cross.

Galvanised steel is used throughout for its durability as well as aesthetic purposes.

The mono-pitched frame includes four bays, which are each accessed by mechanically operated roller shutters.

The bays can be separated off from each other or joined into one large space.

We’ve featured a number of projects by Carmody Groarke – click here to read them.

Photography is by Oak Taylor Smith.

Here is some more information from the architects:

Artist Workshop

Carmody Groarke designed this new artist workshop for Antony Gormley adjacent to his existing studio in London.The artist who works predominantly in metal, required more space to store raw metal materials and space for heavy duty processes to finish sculptures. The workshop has a mono pitched roof and is split into four ‘bays’, so that the internal space inside the building could be divided into separate processes. The building’s structure is made of a galvanised steel mono-pitched frame that is clad in bespoke galvanised steel panels in order to withstand the industrial nature of the artist’s creative process. Access into each bay is through mechanically operated galvanised steel roller shutters doors, which were carefully integrated into the design of the cladding and structure.

The use of hot dipped galvanised steel as a cladding material was considered for its robust nature, its excellent durability as well as its aesthetic appearance. Considerable research and prototyping was undertaken to ensure that the process of hot dip galvanising was controlled to achieve the desired accuracy of material junction and visual appearance. This yielded a design that maintains the protective qualities of the galvanising to prolong the lifespan of the building and gives the building a reassuringly solid and sculptural appearance. The completed workshop building now operates successfully within the artist’s studio in Kings Cross, London and was recently awarded a Commendation in the 2012 Architects’ Journal Small Projects Awards.

London architects Gundry & Ducker have added a blackened larch extension onto the rear of a Victorian terrace in south London.

The stained timber structure doubles the size of the existing kitchen, adding extra width as well as depth.

Skylights on the pitched roof of the new structure increase natural light inside the house.

The larch walls extend beyond the house to enclose a matching gabled playhouse and a garden terrace.

The project was named as one of the two best new extensions in London at New London Architecture‘s Don’t Move, Improve! awards last week.

Gundry & Ducker also recently completed a restaurant interior for an Italian chain – check it out here.

Photography is by Joe Clark.

Here’s a description from the architects:

Dove House

A larch clad extension to a Victorian Terrace House in Wandsworth.

An extension to a Victorian terraced house to form a light filled kitchen and family room integrated into a redesigned garden area.

The intention was to replace, enlarge and improve a dark kitchen area to form a new informal living space with direct access to the garden and to open up views through the ground floor of the house to the garden.

The existing ground floor was expanded sideways into an unused yard area and backwards into an area formerly occupied by an outside WC. An internal light well is formed where the new insertion meets the existing fabric of the building to bring light into the centre of the house.

From immediately entering the house we wanted to provide a long view through the old house into the new extension and onto the garden.

The existing garden was small and surrounded by unattractive tall fencing. Our solution was to provide an internal lining to the garden in black larch, which also forms the rear facade of the extension. Around the garden the space between the old and new layers forms storage spaces and hidden planters. The wall is cut away in places to reveal the ivy growing over the old fence behind. We envisaged that being in the garden would be like being in a room open to the sky. A miniature version of the extension sits at the rear of the garden forming a children’s playhouse.

Location: Balham South West London.