Spike Island

The existing buidling was externally sound; the architect's main task was to divide the interior into flexible spaces, which would include studios, offices, education and lecture rooms, a café and exhibition space. About 40 per cent of the space is sublet to arts organisations.

Structural interventions are minimal and the new elements are deliberately expressed as new insertions within the existing fabric. They comprise blockwork and ply-faced studio partitions, glazed screens, the creation of a sculpture courtyard by removing a small area of roof and the insertion of a passenger lift and escape stairs.

The main hall is a grand space with a 8m-span glass-block barrel-vaulted roof, with fine art studios situated on the first floor gallery space. The upper floor of the two-storey wing has been converted into a studio 'village' laid out in a grid.