FCB Studios speaks at Future Cities Forum
Managing Partner at FCB Studios, Ian Taylor, will be speaking at our 8th April Future Cities Forum on the important work he has been overseeing at London's Southbank Centre, including the Hayward Gallery (above).
Ian has extensive experience in arts and culture and his work has earned him no less than sixteen RIBA awards, two of which made the Stirling Prize shortlist. He leads the practice's Research and Innovations Team and is a visiting professor at UCL IEDE.
He joins Elaine Bedell, Chief Executive of the Southbank Centre to talk about the restoration and redesign of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery to transform and modernise them for generations to come.
Southbank Centre, with its origins in the 1951 Festival of Britain, holds a unique place in the London arts scene. FCB Studios' work was primarily a conservation project to replace building services, improve environmental performance, upgrade infrastructure to support an ever-widening artistic programme and improve disabled access for audiences and artists. The foundation of renewal and upgrading of the existing buildings has given them a new lease of life and a low maintenance future.
The works also reinterpret the Hayward Gallery's iconic pyramid roof with a solution that allows controlled natural light back into the galleries, described by Henry Moore in the context of the new galleries as 'God's daylight'. Achieving this daylight was raised as 'a matter of the utmost importance' by the Arts Council to the GLA in 1966 while the buildings were under construction and continues to be at the heart of the project. The project was undertaken with the support of Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as trusts and foundations, individuals and Southbank Centre's friends.
FCB Studios has been creating sustainable spaces for arts and culture for over thirty years. Among a host of projects, it has worked on the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Alexandra Palace in London, Theatre Royal Bath, and the Clore Learning Centre.
It has recently been appointed to Sheffield Heart of the City II as architect for a mixed-use, vibrant quarter, providing a new home for Sheffield's cultural, commercial and creative trailblazers.