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SETTING THE SCENE
The Hotwalls Studios are a series of artists’ spaces that were created in 2016 by EMRC Architecture Ltd with Deniz Beck Partners for Portsmouth City Council within the 15th century Point Battery 'arches' in Old Portsmouth that are situated between the Round and Square Towers in Old Broad Street. They have been let to artists as ‘incubator spaces’ for a maximum period so that they could develop their practise and business. For some of these artists this initial period has now come to an end and they are seeking permanent work spaces elsewhere. They have also joined with some other artists who currently work at home.
Students from the School of Environment Geography & Geosciences (SEGG) are working with the artists to identify potential sites (Module Coordinator: Dr Carol Ekinsmyth). You will be researching one of those sites, collaborating with the artists and proposing new work and collective spaces that engage with the artists’ group, the local community and the wider public, identifying ways that the new building could support the venture using pop up events.
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During November 2022 your studio representatives and I attended a consultation workshop with SEGG. At this event artists shared their hopes for new studio spaces, the outcomes were recorded and these will be made available to you.
The first few weeks of the project will be concerned with site and you will be producing a concept box representing the discoveries detailed in your sketchbook.
In later weeks there will be opportunity to meet individual artists and discuss the nature of their work and processes, more specific requirements and ask questions so that you can generate more detailed information for your project.
You will need to work with empathy and curiosity and evaluate what you have discovered, recognising the artists priorities and using this information and your design skills to generate a proposal that responds specifically to these issues.
The nature of the workspace for each artist will be fundamentally different and these qualities should be clearly represented in your sketchbook and final proposals.
