Simple but elegant detailing
Takero Shimazaki Architects for Leicester Print Workshop
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 789 m²
RIBA East Midlands Small Project Award
RIBA East Midlands Project Architect of the Year Award, Jennifer Frewen
The Leicester Print Workshop is a transformation of a 1970s former glass warehouse to create new printmaking studios, library, gallery and education spaces in the city’s cultural quarter. The new openings in the existing brick elevations frame activities within, while reuse of existing brickwork allows subtle remodelling of existing openings.
Internally the very tight budget has been maximised by a palette of low cost materials and white walls set off by simple but elegant detailing and careful consideration of space. According to the artists involved, the collaboration has transformed not only the premises, but also the artists, members and Leicester itself. This has been achieved in a number of ways - not least the improvements in the public realm and in the way the client body and design team thought beyond the limitations of budget to produce an exemplar of sustainable renewal in cities.
See the other winners of the RIBA Regional Awards 2016 – East Midlands