Illustrated Report by Gagan Kapoor on built environment - Turner Contemporary by David Chipperfield Architects

TURNER CONTEMPORARY by David Chipperfield Architects 

INTRODUCTION

Art and architecture are representative of the social, artistic, philosophical and political aspects of a society. The seemingly modern industrial shed designed as an art gallery situated beside the clock tower by the sea side is set out to reflect an image of the town of Margate. The modern design by David Chipperfield Architects is simplistic in expression most likely due to its emphasis on purpose and function.

             

Turner Contemporary Sketch (front space)

HISTORY

One of Britain's most appreciated painter, J. M. William Turner wouldn't have known that the guest house he stayed at and painted the romanticist landscapes would then be turned into a car park and then into an art gallery two centuries later. His appreciation of the dramatic lighting in Margate was taken into consideration for the design of the Turner Contemporary situated by Cold Harbor at Rendezvous. The gallery existed since 2001 using the Droit House to exhibit in. In 2006 after Snohetta lost their chance to design the gallery due to technical problems and escalating costs, Kent County Council appointed David Chipperfield Architects to design the gallery for a budget of 17.4 million GBP.

      

                       Fig. 1. David Chipperfield                                                                 Fig. 2. J.M.W. Turner

CURRENT CONTEXT

The gallery is run as a charity and is a part of Plus Tate network of visual arts organizations in the UK. They have free exhibitions, events and learning programs for the public to appreciate historic and contemporary art through visual and audible media. Turner Contemporary's purpose is to make exclusive art accessible to everyone and encourage visitors to engage in the experience themselves. The views of the sea on the Northern side in the gallery and the western side from the cafe connect the visitors to the surrounding landscape. It is also considered a catalyst for the regeneration of Margate and East Kent although David Chipperfield pointed out during an architectural preview that a building alone cannot remake a town. Christine Murray after realizing the activities that take place at the Turner for the public mentioned that he believed it to be a civic space by the sea rather than a catalyst for regeneration. (Architects, 2011)

                                                                                                    Use of flexible space (Ground Floor)                          

                                                                            Installations involving materials like fabric and rubber

SHAPE AND FORM

The two-storey building is composed of six identical crystalline volumes with mono pitched roofs providing north light to the gallery spaces and revealing daily and seasonal light changes (Architects, 2011). On entering the building a wall of glass reflections and aroma of coffee demands a decision by the visitor to chose a direction, one that leads to the main gallery and the other to the cafe behind you. Upon entering the gallery one might be enticed with current exhibits on the path to the reception desk. Visually the glass windows on the atrium towards the north side connect the structure with the outer environment and the exhibits by the interior walls attract the visitors. The clerestory windows allow direct daylight into the building which gets diffused by the skylights above each of the six volumes (Architects, 2011). ‘Our best view of the sea happens to be in a direction where we can enjoy light that is least damaging to the museum environment’ said David Chipperfield, who also saw it as a pavilion, a type of shed (Murray, 2011).

                                                   

                                                                                                                   Ground Floor Plan

                                                   

                                                                                                                          First Floor Plan

            I chose to have a latte in the cafe at the main entrance after seeing the exhibitions at the gallery

STRUCTURE AND MATERIALS

To face the corrosive and flooding nature of the sea the building has been raised on a plinth and hard landscaping used in the surroundings. It is constructed with a concrete frame and acid-etched glass skin to deal with high humidity levels, strong winds and sometimes waves overtopping the building. The façades are made of glass with reinforced windows. Inside the floors are made to withstand time and dry lining on walls to allow hanging of exhibitions (Architects, 2011).

                                                                       

                                                                                     Drawing of an exterior (view from the main road)

The structure stands out of the surrounding due to its industrial, white toned appearance but certainly blends simplistically with the surrounding landscape and the skies when viewed from a distance from the main sands of Margate. The back elevation is hidden by the sloping landscape beside the building and likely to be least accessed by visitors. This is probably good for the sake of the structure since the slight unappealing surrounding and the inclined road on the east side take seem to degrade its aesthetic value. These flexible spaces have expansive views of the sea almost like a huge viewfinder that captures good images by allowing light through.

The enormous lift is one outstanding feature of the gallery, although it does not seem to play a specific role in the context except the amaze it creates in the visitors who sometimes do mistake the open lift for an empty room.

USE

It was intended to display historic and contemporary art to attach an artistic feature to Margate and lift its economically damaged situation (Contemporary, T.). How effectively has it improved the importance of Margate as a town in South East England is arguable. It engages local communities and children to have an experience of the art culture. After visiting the many other attractions in the town- the Theatre Royal, Old Town, The Shell Grotto and Dreamland Amusement park, visitors most likely wrap the day at the art gallery before dinner at one of the sea side restaurants. Several members of the local community meet every week to discuss art and engage primary school children in art activities.

                                                                           Audio-visual space (Exhibition - RISK)

ANALYSIS AND CRITICISM

Christine Murray the then editor of Architects’ Journal mentioned that the purpose of the Turner as regeneration tool for Margate would not be met (Murray, 2011 Stirling Prize, 2011). She points out David Chipperfield's take at an architectural preview about people misunderstanding that like the Bilbao effect every new architectural development would always be the most effective tool to remake a town. Through the process of regeneration it could change the perspective of individuals as examined that visitors had adopted private behavior within the public space at Tate Modern such as lying down on the floor (Lucy, C. 2014).

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND EVALUATION

                                                                               Myself outside Turner Contemporary on a cloudy day

It is an architectural structure which uses light and space effectively and the experience of the interior separates you from the outer world into the ambiance of the gallery which works out well to engage the visitor. The audio-visual rooms do prove to be a different way of experiencing art that is not just hung on walls. One of the recent exhibitions included a performance by a local group of musicians who played in the enormous lift the whole day. The experience in the gallery is mostly simple yet sometimes unique with the selection of certain mentally engaging artwork. Physically linking the gallery to the town could prove challenging due to its situation away from the center of town. The Shell Grotto as a unique place in Margate is probably a more artistic source of representing the town. It takes 15 minutes to walk to the Turner Contemporary from the railway station, 5 minutes by car and about 2 minutes if navigated using Google Street View, which is now most likely to be the first tool of experiencing a new space before visiting it. 

  

CONCLUSION

The gallery gives the seaside features a lift with its minimalistic aesthetics which gives the town a structure that would attract the lovers of the art world in the South Eastern part of England. However, the immediate surroundings of the structure could be amended to balance the appeal. The first step could simple include moving the car park away from the building to emphasize its existence as an important structure. After considering the fact that the waves do get ecstatic several days in the year the position of the building doesn't entirely justify its purpose. It has its flaws and the good about it and seems to be in a relationship with the ocean and its waves. Almost like a long term romantic relationship that has its days of quarrels. It might not have improved the local economy drastically but it does have a story worth telling.

        Skyline drawing of the Turner Contemporary against the relatively empty horizon space

References:

Architects, D. C. (2011, November 8). Projects: David Chipperfield Architects. Retrieved from David Chipperfield Architects: http://www.davidchipperfield.co.uk/

                                                                                      [Accessed: 8th August 2016]

Contemporary, T. About: Turner Contemporary. Retrieved from Turner Contemporary: https://www.turnercontemporary.org/about/gallery

                                                                                      [Accessed: 13 September 2016]

Murray, C. (2011, April 7). 2011 Stirling Prize. Retrieved from Architects Journal: http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/2011-stirling-prize/a-building-alone-cannot-remake-a-town/8613646.article

                                                                                                [Accessed: 8th August 2015]

Murray, C. (2011). Turner Contemporary, Margate, by David Chipperfield Architects. Architects' Journal.

Lucy, C. (2014). Establishing the Tate Modern Cultural Quarter: Social and Cultural Regeneration through Art and Architecture. London School of Economics

Portfolio

DESIGN

                       

 

             

  PHOTOGRAPHY                

Disorder is the Disturbance of Order not the Absence of it

The meaning of order has come to mean a reduction to simple geometrical shape and the standardization of everything for everybody, the favoring of the basic physical function over expression and of rationality at the expense of spontaneous invention. It has been misinterpreted in general with a particular kind of order preferred by a generation of designers and architects and rejected by another.

Controversies over stylistic preferences come and go. Order should be taken as indispensable to the functioning of any organized system, whether its function be physical or mental. To make this easier to understand think about a car engine that can not perform without the integrated cooperation of all its parts, likewise a structure cannot fulfill its function and represent its idea unless it presents an ordered pattern.

Symmetry or regularity are themes that highly represent order but they would only apply where they suit the program.
A tree is centrically symmetrical because there is no reason for it to respond differently to different directions. The human face is a one-sided modification of the spherical head housing the brain. Likewise the facade of a building visibly acknowledges the importance of approach, entrance and exit.

Everything has some independence and completeness on its own. but at the same time is a part of larger context.
Self-contradiction is an offense against order and a mistake committed out of ignorance or oversight or for another purpose. One is in error to think that something exists and does not exist at the same time. Nor is it possible for one thing to depict two mutually exclusive properties in the same position at the same time. It can be a mixture of two separate things but it cannot be both the things at the same time since the properties of the two things would be represented by other conditions that render them exclusive of each other.

A building may be designed without consideration of the neighbors, but almost every time it shows its unquestionable dependence to the force of gravity. Also it provides entrances and exits and adapts its shape to the intake of air and light. So the object's intrinsic order by its interaction with the environment is nor only necessary for its functioning, but also desirable for its form and appearance.

An ornamental pattern representing the corolla of a daisy can exhibit the symmetrical star shape to almost perfection. This can be considered lifeless at the same time that it excites us. The petals of an actual daisy are often not exactly alike and do not array themselves in perfect order. 
So we may like this imperfection as an image of our own way of behaving by a variety of individual impulses, which we cherish because they document our freedom from mechanical replication.