The Gilbert & George Centre by SIRS Architects is one of the new cultural spaces opening the doors to Spitalfields’ hidden creative world.
Gilbert & George with architect Manuel Irsara. Photograph by Prudence Coming.
Earlier this month, I had a tour of the Gilbert & George Centre in Spitalfields with its architect, Manuel Irsara of SIRS Architects. I found an interesting series of spaces that largely utilise what was already there; a creatively handled retrofit of a former brewery, developed in close collaboration with the artists, Gilbert & George – a building described by Rowan Moore as “Ripper world meets the white cube.” Manuel, incidentally, is Gilbert’s nephew.
I knew the building as the home of the late architect Theo Crosby, co-founder of design firm, Pentagram. The two floors of galleries on the western side of the building were once his workshop and studio, an adjunct to the main house. The most significant move has been the creation of a large basement to provide further rooms for display and storage, though the artists also have another discreet studio unit in the area, hidden between gardens.
Typically, the Georgian terraces and converted Victorian warehouses in our neighbourhood are tight to the street, with little defensible space – part of the reason so many residents have their main living rooms on the first floor, away from the pavement. In this context, the Centre’s semi-public cobbled street is a gracious move, and benefits the narrower end of Heneage Street. Walking towards the entrance, Manuel explains the green corridor of plants leading to the gates, all of which have been carefully considered: a Ginko tree and a purple flowering magnolia, references to aspects of the artists’ lives. Here, they have created an oasis, with the ground and planting designed to absorb rather than channel rainwater. This is both a public open space and a service yard for delivery; and an expression of their gift and mantra, ART FOR ALL.
Gilbert & George meeting gallery visitors. Photograph by Nic Serpell-Rand.
A significant upgrade is in access; there are no longer steps, the forecourt has been graded to allow entrance via a ramp and a lift added. Inside, the low entrance reminds me of a house or a ship with its panelling painted a warm, inviting yellow. We discuss the importance of the colour, and I remember Aalto Piamio sanitorium, where the entrance and stairs are yellow to cheer residents. I have yellow blinds and canopies on my office in Fashion Street to add joy to an otherwise dull interior, particularly in the winter months.
A glass-paned door leads into the galleries. Behind this could be a portal to a different building, as you step through into the Centre’s bright white cubes. Here, the brewery’s history falls away to allow the art to dominate. The lighting throughout the galleries is specific to the requirements of photographic high-gloss works, designed to eliminate reflections and at levels required for conservation. Lights are placed closer to the walls than in most galleries, although the space is flexible for other artworks to be lit more conventionally. The Centre plans only one or two shows per year, but the artists’ unique way of framing their work as ‘pictures within pictures’ lends itself well to hanging and rehanging.
First floor gallery. Photograph by Prudence Coming.
The return to the past comes upstairs in the brewery’s loft, with its exposed trusses and brickwork. The double plasterboard layers lining the space appear to hover off the floor and walls. Here, also, a clever technical issue is resolved with the supply of air at skirting level and extraction at eaves level. Environmentally, the building shines, with high thermal mass and insulation. Rainwater is collected and re-used. Portland stone lines the floor and walls of the toilets; fissured and fossilised on the walls and smooth easy clean on the floor. Underfloor heating lends a minimal touch to the interiors, and wide oak floorboards and skirtings give a domestic, almost Georgian feel and a personal reference to their own Georgian home. It is an architecture of quietness, no shouty colours or sculptural shapes, simply discreet and deferential to the art.
The building is a manifestation of Gilbert & George’s presence in Spitalfields; an enduring legacy of their work in the neighbourhood they loved, the streets they strolled along together, the place where they grew up as artists. For me, this public dimension is one of the most engaging and hopeful aspects of the project. Having lived and worked in the area for almost two decades, I have come to know and collaborate with many of the artists that call it home. However, historically, this activity has occupied a private realm of living spaces and studios. The Gilbert & George Centre brings it to the surface – and it is just one of a growing number of more outward-looking cultural developments.
Gilbert & George in the reception area. Photograph by Tom Oldham.
Some of these are meanwhile uses that prompt a new look at a familiar place. This autumn, we saw one of the Huguenot houses on Princelet Street become a satellite Gagosian Gallery for an exhibition of early work by Christo. Then there is the Van Gogh experience in the old stable block on the corner of Commercial Street, which draws crowds. Others are more permanent interventions, such as the sculpture trail through Foster + Partners’ redevelopment of the historic market.
This part of London is not without significant cultural institutions. The Bishopsgate Institute and Whitechapel Gallery have historically been a radical force, but it is private galleries, artists and developers now driving the area’s most exciting creative changes. The Gilbert & George Centre, A.I. Gallery at Tenter Ground, Public Gallery on Middlesex Street. To this I’d also add Raven Row gallery, another successful domestic conversion that draws on local history; architects, 6a used charred timber moulds on the Frying Pan Alley façade in reference to the ravages of the 1972 fire.
This kind of use and development is more than a diversion, it is vital for the health of Spitalfields. For decades, this dense, close-knit cluster of streets has held its ground between the commercial pressures of the City of London and the community life of the East End. It is interesting to observe how the City’s Roman walls have – even to the present day – defined the activities within and outside them. Theatres, fields, archery, artillery, prostitution were common ‘outer city wall’ activities; places of play and adventure, away from urbane life. Gilbert & George, like many artists and creatives, find themselves outside, on the edge of the city – and proud to be outsiders.
Old Spitalfields Market. Photograph by Aaron Hargreaves, Foster + Partners.
The streets that gave refuge to French Huguenot silk weavers, Jewish and Bangladeshi migrants might not be able to offer the same affordable housing for new waves of migration, but cultural and community spaces play an important role in making the area available and open to all visitors. Many still come for the markets, the cheap second-hand shops, or the more concentrated, specialised retail in places like Redchurch Street. Alongside its cafes, boutiques and mosque remains a small but thriving artist-run gallery, Studio 1.1. Nearby Rich Mix is also an important venue for film and events.
Our current cultural projects in the area aim to contribute to its civic as much as its artistic life. We are working on the redevelopment of Tracey Emin’s former home and studio, exploring ways to embrace the ground level with more generous public and exhibition space. Within the regeneration of Bishopsgate Goodsyard, another inviting cobbled yard beneath the overground, the space is framed by a new café and cultural building to the north; the old station boundary wall cuts right through the building, uniting Spitalfields’ history with new opportunities for creative industry.
These places help to preserve Spitalfields’ character, which comes from its people as much as its architecture. As Manuel Irsara says; “Gilbert and George have always thrived on having their voice heard and putting a distinctive stamp on their environment – the creation of the Centre represents the ultimate fulfilment of their artistic vision, ART FOR ALL.”
Green monogrammed entrance gates to the Gilbert & George Centre. Photograph by SIRS Architects.
If you walk past the Centre, you will see that the old timber doors have been replaced with ornate green monogrammed gates, evidence that something significant has changed here. The transparent, decorative forged iron is a symbol of the accessibility the artists bring to their work, as well as a gateway dedicated to King Charles, a monarch they greatly admire.
Beyond this is Brick Lane, its curries and bagels, a Michelin-starred restaurant or two. Spitalfields is an area where you see the layering of London at its most dynamic, a city where more than 300 languages are spoken; here you feel the melting pot of cultures that Gilbert & George celebrate. I find it reassuring that there is a desire for more of these visible touchstones of the area’s cultural life; not only to celebrate the legacy of established artists like the famous duo, but to attract and support new generations, to protect this place that has been inspiration for so many artists, writers and even a few architects.
