The Hyde Gallery

In the approach to this project our clients asked for what is both the simplest and most complex brief. “We want a nice, white box”, our clients stated, “which can be a gallery, a space for yoga and mediation, and an events space, teaching space and maybe some catering?”… Of course, there are many approaches to such multi-functional spaces, but the aspect of the gallery meant that there was a primarily clear focal point. The design needed to be modest and to celebrate the art! However, the shop front needed to attract attention for passers by and the art work also needed to be able to seemingly disappear in moments of alternative uses. The gallery had to become its own piece of art.

To do this and satisfy the brief we developed a seemingly simple strategy playing with surfaces, gaps and textures to create ‘floating’ wall panels on which the client could curate the art. We then also started taking inspiration from some of the greatest environmental artists such as Olafur Eliasson, James Turrell and Dan Flavin, in allowing the gallery lights to change colours becoming a fully immersive light-space adapting to each function.

This experience continues onto the street where every night of the week the client leaves on the lights with a different colour, creating a un-missable feature of Chiswick High Street. It is a reinterpreted relationship between the ideas of inside and outside the art work, into the liminal space of the urban threshold.