NTU Architecture Subject Group

Margate's Art District

Art District Definition;
A mixed use area in a community with a high concentration of cultural facilities and operations aimed to promote economic development, such as art galleries, theatres, art cinemas, music venues, and public squares for performances.

The Theatre Royal, situated on the corner of a Georgian Square in the heart of Margate, surrounds itself with a context of declining public space. With the operation of the theatre in a fragile state and the buildings fabric gradually deteriorating, economic stability is needed to ensure the theatres future survival.

In close proximity to the theatre, between Union Crescent and Princess Street, the former Thanet Press print works has established a new lease of life, accommodating the Carl Freedman Gallery and the home and studio of Margate-born artist Tracey Emin. The transformation represents a growing art community and the potential to establish the theatre and its close context as Margate’s art district.

Stated in a paper on the arts-led regeneration of Margate, many local artists feel under represented by the Turner Contemporary situated on Margate’s seafront. Responding to the needs of local artists and a growing art community, the proposal places a new art venue opposite the Theatre Royal on Addington Square, a site currently used as a car park. The new art venue seeks to create a platform for local artists by making the process of creating, making, curating and selling art transparent and immersive. The design strategy blurs the boundary between the site and street by raising the building, creating a public plaza where informal performance and exhibitions can take place. The Theatre Royal will remain on its prominent corner site, while providing a venue for the auction of artwork to support the growing presence of art galleries and studios.

The proposal aims to use the power of art culture to give the site and its local community the potential to thrive.

Susannah Hudson
Student name
Susannah Hudson
Course
MArch Architecture
Contact
LinkedIn
@susannah-hudson

MArch Architecture

The Master of Architecture (MArch) embraces the challenge of 21st Century architectural practice and focuses on educating architects with a global outlook through projects set in local, national, and international contexts.

Through “vertical studios” in each year of study, steered by leading practitioners and academics, we put current architectural thinking at the heart of the course. We locate architectural design centrally as an academic discipline through rigorous cross-disciplinary design research and complex methodological application. The course recognises the essential cross-cutting and cross-disciplinary nature of architecture, bringing together diverse disciplines aiming to create collaborative/group work as a means of developing design creativity within the realistic teamwork environment of practice. All projects will be developed considering sustainability, environmental, socio-economic and cultural aspects, rather than being studied and applied as discrete areas of teaching and learning.

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