Gormley Studio
London, UK
2001–03
The studio of the English artist Antony Gormley is centrally located just north of London’s Kings Cross station amid warehouses and rail yards. Attempting to create light and open spaces for the diverse and specific ways in which the artist works, the building provides studio space for drawing, painting, sculpting, welding, casting and photography.
A former Turner Prize winner, Gormley is an artist whose work has been exhibited in museums and as installations around the world. He has created some of the most ambitious and iconic sculptural works of the past decades, including Field, The Angel of the North, and Quantum Cloud. The sculpture undertaken by Gormley is often industrial in both its scale and the method of its creation. It requires the participation of numerous assistants and, in many cases, the involvement of external manufacturers and foundries. This modus operandi is reflected in the size and complexity of this purpose-built studio. In addition to a large cavernous space, allowing for the manoeuvring of heavy works by means of pulleys and winches, the studio required a range of smaller spaces including offices for administration, a photographic studio, workshops, a green room, storage and two distinct private studios where the artist can develop projects.
The new building is a robust structure that reflects the neighbouring industrial vernacular by creating a seven-bay structure distinguished by the proportions and placement of the openings in its façade. Skylights span much of the length of the pitched roofs that cover each bay, providing bright and evenly dispersed light. Access to the studio building is across a large yard at the front of the site. Two external galvanised steel staircases provide direct access to the upper level spaces at either end of the main double-height studio. The staircase to the right of the central studio is detached from the elevation and ascends onto a small terrace area, accentuating the relationship between the forecourt and the building.
Data and credits
- Project start
- 2001
- Completion
- 2003
- Gross floor area
- 1,000m²
- Client
- Antony Gormley
- Architect
- David Chipperfield Architects London
- Project team
- Kevin Carmody, David Chipperfield, Andy Groarke, Kaori Ohsugi
- Structural engineer
- Jane Wernick Associates
- Services engineer
- Environmental Engineering Partnership
- General contractor
- Leonard Field Group
- Quantity surveyor
- Capita Property Services
- Photography
- Richard Bryant
