ondon is densely layered
with history. The capital’s new architecture
rarely enjoys a blank slate, instead having
to build incrementally upon what is already
there, treating the existing city as both
inspiration and driving force. The evolution
of the South London Gallery (SLG) is typical.
Founded in 1868, it bounced between
Kennington, Battersea and Camberwell,
before ultimately making permanent camp
on the fringes of Peckham in 1891. Today,
it sits alongside the Camberwell College
of Arts, itself part of the mighty University
of the Arts London, at the intersection of
a burgeoning South London arts scene that
includes nearby Goldsmiths and a scattering
of local galleries and studios. Throughout
the 1990s, director David Thorp placed the
gallery at the forefront of the YBA movement,
and his successor, Margot Heller, has put it
firmly on the international art map.
As well as expanding the curatorial vision,
Heller has overseen three stages of renovation
and expansion, culminating in an all-new site
opening this September. The first extension
incorporated an adjoining terraced house.
‘There are a lot of art galleries in London, and
I decided to build on our distinctivecharacter, keeping the house’s domestic scale,’
Heller explains. The design was by a young
practice called 6a Architects, set up in 2001
by Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald.
Their award-winning extension opened
in 2010 and boosted annual visitor numbers
from around 25,000 to 140,000 to cement
SLG’s role in the community, with the café,
shop and education spaces now a welcome
south London fixture. ‘We’re practically in
a housing estate yet we’re also internationally
known,’ Heller says. ‘The location of the
gallery is so much part of its character.’
This connection with south London
is now being bolstered by the gallery’s new
outpost, just a few hundred yards down
Peckham Road. In a surprise development,
the gallery received the former fire station
at 82 Peckham Road from an anonymous
benefactor. The donor made no stipulations
but the implication was clear; here was
a space that could embed the gallery even
more into its surroundings.
Built in 1867, the fire station is one
of the earliest examples of what was then a
new urban typology, a beacon of civic virtue
and social cohesion. It used the language
of Victorian domestic architecture, withupstairs accommodation for the firemen
and their families, yards and stabling at the
back for horses, and a garage at the front
for the tenders. Much altered over the years,
the station was sold in the 1920s once horse-
drawn fire engines had become obsolete.
A new building went up on an adjacent
plot (subsequently rebuilt in 1990) and the
original station became part of the sausage
factory that occupied the surrounding site,
now enjoying a new life as artists’ studios.
Once again, 6a Architects was brought
on board. ‘You work with the tools that you
find and the fire station is a messy, informal
vernacular on many different scales,’ says
Macdonald. ‘Like the original gallery, it has
a civic intention, but is also quite informal.’
The studio’s principle intervention
was the installation of a new staircase. ‘We
experimented with metal grilles to give it a
substantial feeling. It is simply but beautifully
made,’ says Macdonald. It uses the visual
language of fire escapes, both utilitarian and
perfectly tailored for this tall space. ‘It was
so dark before; now you can see into the first
floor galleries and up to the sky,’ Macdonald
says, pointing out how the stairwell orientatesthe visitor as well as provides a tantalising (^) »
A NEW STUDIO UP IN THE
EAVES IS PART OF THE SLG’S
ESTABLISHED ARTISTS’
RESIDENCY PROGRAMME
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Architecture