Unit B

THE LIVES OF ARTISTS

Stephen Baty, Alex Scott-Whitby

The artist, their work, their legacy The UK has an internationally recognised art market. The work of artists is now less of a singular activity but one that revolves around a collective effort of makers, gallerists, and publicist’s. This year Unit B has been investigating this world and looking in depth at the lives of some of the UK’s artists that are living and working in London.

The units sites were placed within the Hatton Garden Conservation Area, and the students were asked to study Camden Councils Conservation Area appraisal and management strategy within which there were a serious of sites that had been deemed as contributing negatively to it, or being sites that were still vacant having been bombed out during the war.

In the first half of the year we asked the students to investigate how their chosen artist makes their work, a series of sites within the conservation area and importantly to study an important precedent building with a particular emphasis on the precedents structure. Students were then asked to respond to theses studies by making a series of thematic models that asked each student to translate their understanding in three dimensional form. Each student has then developed their own brief independently responding to the Site, The Artist, and the Structural Precedent to create their own individual brief.

Unit B is interested in the design of buildings and space. We have worked almost exclusively at large scale challenging the students to work at scales of 1:100 or less. We have asked them to look closely at buildings and spaces that have inspired them, not just by image but importantly in plan, section, elevation and detail.

Throughout this challenging year we have developed a weekly diet of lectures and online talks/exhibitions for the student to watch, listen and learn from. We expected the students to be fully immersed within the subject area and they have responded appropriately.

It has been a challenging, unprecedented year, and we have huge admiration and respect for our students who have despite all that has been swirling around us, responded, engaged and cared for us and importantly each other.

They are our professions future and if our sample is anything to go by our professions future could not be in better hands.

Students:

Year 3: Sarah Alkhazraji, Vanessa Campanelli, Nathalia Cardona De Castro, Adam Emmerson, Timothy Eves, Ezichiebuka Joshua Ewurum, Oscar Frith, Alten Gomes, Thomas Joy, Rahat Kamal, Ali Mohammed, Alma Odoleanu, Izaak Sallows, Lewis Smith, Yulia Tanana. Year 2: Lewis Curtis, Adrian Grant, Ahmed Khan, Naima Khan, Balla Ngom, Kathlyn Pagador, Stephanie Stocks, Robert Venning.

Critics & Collaborators:

Colin Hayward - PT Projects, Osman Marfo-Gyasi, Graeme Massie - Graeme Massie Architects, Jeff Tidmarsh - Sir Robert McAlpine, Mary Tyulkanova, Mark Whitby - WhitbyWood.

Special thanks to:

The Bleeding Heart Bistro, The Gunmakers Pub.

1 Urban location drawing - Hatton Garden Conservation Area, Thomas Joy. 2 Study of Anthony Gormley’s forms of the human body, Rahat Kamal. 3 Study of human figures in space, Rahat Kamal. 4 Study of Tracey Emin’s ‘The Mother’, Alten Gomes, 5 Quarried sculpture in sandstone, inspired by Sean Scully, Timothy Eeves. 6 Study of Rachel Whiteread’s working studio space, Thomas Joy. 7 Painting on wooden blocks, inspired by Vicken Parson’s, Nathalia Cardona De Castro. 8 Painting on wooden blocks, inspired by Vicken Parson’s, Nathalia Cardona De Castro. 9 Extraction of Plan - Tracing the dust print left behind by a sculpture, Timothy Eves. 10 Floor drawing of the granite setts in Bleeding Heart Yard, Sarah Alkhazraji. 11 Pencil elevation of the Ragged School tower, Thomas Joy. 12 Pencil elevation of the Saffron Hill warehouse, Izaak Sallows.

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13 Development of spatial and physical architecture through thematic floor plate and party wall model, Robert Venning 14 Fragment structural model of the Saffron Hill NCP car park, inspired by Anthony Gormley’s ‘Matrix’, Vanessa Campanelli. 15 Thematic model inspired by Jake and Dinos Chapman - developing the vitrine into an architectural proposal, Izaak Sallows. 16 Plaster cast of the historic terraced house facades on Eyre Street Hill, inspired by Rachel Whiteread, Thomas Joy. 17 ‘Breaking the building’ - fragmenting the structural model of the Saffron Hill NCP car park into three zones, Vanessa Campanelli.

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18 Thematic proposal on site for a gallery and studio 19 Fragment structural model of the Saffron Hill NCP car park, inspired by Anthony Gormley’s ‘Matrix’, Vanessa Campanelli. 20 Thematic model inspired by Jake and Dinos Chapman - developing the vitrine into an architectural proposal, Izaak Sallows. 21 Plaster cast of the historic terraced house facades on Eyre Street Hill, inspired by Rachel Whiteread, Thomas Joy. 22 ‘Breaking the building’ - fragmenting the structural model of the Saffron Hill NCP car park into three zones, Vanessa Campanelli.

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23 Clerkenwell Community Centre - plan for an edible garden, Kathlyn Pagador. 24 The Hockney Oasis - Home for David Hockney Foundation, Yulia Tanana. 25 Kitchen SOE, Saffron Hill - Internal Courtyard, Robert Venning. 26 Warner Street Corner - proposed section, Nathalia Cardona De Castro. 27 Kitchen SOE, Saffron Hill - Structural and Material Axonometric, Robert Venning. 28 A Sanctum for Scully - Ground Floor Plan, Timothy Eves. 29 The Clerkenwell Sculpture Academy - Ground Floor Plan, Thomas Joy. 30 Clerkenwell Community Centre - proposed section, Kathlyn Pagador. 31 The Clerkenwell Sculpture Academy - Creating a public courtyard between the existing Ragged School and the proposed sculpture studios, Thomas Joy. 32 Formaldehyde Workshop and Gallery Space - internal courtyard, Lewis Smith. 33 A Sanctum for Scully - Indoor Outdoor Garden, Timothy Eves. 34 Earth Speaker Adventure Playground, Stephanie Stocks. 35 The Clerkenwell Sculpture Academy - Central studio space beneath courtyard,

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Ground Floor 1-100 @A2;

1. Bus Stop - 5m2 2. Clerkenwell Road Entrance 3. Public Walkway & Entrance 4. Entrance Lobby - 25m2 5. Main Atrium - 32m2 6. Cut Out For Art Hoist - 0.4x4.5m 7. Bookshop Space A. - 21m2 8. Reading Cove - 11m2 9. Art Lift Accessed From Hatton Wall - 3.6x1.2m 10. Small Reading Space 11. Bookshop Space B. Deep Shelves - 23m2 12. Main Lift +1 Private Family Entrance 13. Disabled Toilet 14. 15. 9.5m2 16. Check Out & Exit - 14m2 17. Public Stair 18. Atrium Space To Basement 1

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38 Art Yard - sketch plan, Rahat Kamal. 39 Art Yard - Model room - 1:50 internal model, Rahat Kamal. 40 Art Yard - Artist’s residence - internal sketch, Rahat Kamal. 41 Clerkenwell Sculpture Academy - sketch section, Thomas Joy. 42 Clerkenwell Sculpture Academy - 1:50 model of cast glass facade in plaster and soap, inspired by Rachel Whiteread, Thomas Joy. 43 Clerkenwell Sculpture Academy - Sculpture studios - internal sketch, Thomas Joy.

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Art yard aims to design a contemporary Art gallery in the Hatton Garden conservation area that has a social and cultural space for the wider art community.

Central to the project is the artist residency programme which aims to develop artists’ practices, resulting in new work and public participation. The public courtyard will host live art performance, alongside artist-led activities.

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The Clerkenwell Sculpture Academy creates studio and workshop facilities as well as accommodation for 8 young artists. The historically significant Ragged School building on Vine Hill is utilised to create a public gallery and provide a new public courtyard space for Clerkenwell on a previously underused site.

The combined academy/gallery will be led by Rachel Whiteread and host visiting professors/artists.

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