SPACES Winner of the Walter Bor Media Award 2008

1 SPACES2008 News and views about Hackney s built environmentDouble Issue 18/19 Winter 2008 Winner of the Walter Bor Media Awardcontents01 Rivington Place02 Swimming in Hackney04 Buried by the Blitz04 Olympics 201205 Children s Centres06 The Best of Hackney07 Building Watch: Clapton08 Hackney Society news08 Programme of eventsA new arts centre sits fortress-likeon the corner of Rivington Place andRivington Street in Shoreditch. Thebuilding, now home to the Institute of International Visual Arts andAutograph (the Association of BlackPhotographers), was designed byAdjaye Associates the architecturalpractice of David Adjaye.

2 David Adjaye a graduate from theRoyal College of Art and the son of aGhanaian diplomat is like his buildingssomething of an architectural the world of architecture to be young(under 40), and black, is a rarity. In aprofession that is dominated by white,middle-aged men his meteoric success hasn t gone unnoticed. One of his buildings, The Idea Store, inWhitechapel was awarded the RIBAI nclusive Design Award and nominatedfor the prestigious Stirling Prize in was also recently awarded anOBE for services to architecture in theQueen s birthday honours.

3 Rivington Place represents a number offirsts the first publicly funded exhibitionspace dedicated to cultural diversity, thefirst completed visual arts centre by DavidAdjaye, and the first new build publicgallery in London since the HaywardGallery opened its doors in 1968. Rivington Place has all the designfeatures that identify the building asAdjaye s work: the unusual choice ofmaterials (a thick dark concrete fa adecombined with glossy black aluminiumpanels); the use of strip lighting; and aminimalist box with deeply recessedwindows.

4 The eight levels of windowopenings give the impression that thebuilding is bigger than it actually is, asthere are only five storeys to thebuilding. The building is topped by a setof serrated skylights. Inside is a glassfronted gallery space facing ontoRivington Street; a double height projectspace; a lecture theatre; the Stuart Halllibrary; an education space used for arange of projects involving the localcommunity and schools; a photographicarchive; a caf /bar; and workspaces forlocal creative businesses. The buildingcost 8 million and was funded by theArts Council, the National Lottery andBarclays Adjaye is recognised as one of theleading architects of his generation.

5 In1994, he formed a partnership withWilliam Russell. They quickly developed areputation as a practice with an artist ssensibility towards architecture. Theirclever use of materials, bespoke designand ability to sculpt light evoked highregard from the architectural 2000, Adjaye decided to go it alone forming Adjaye Associates. Since then hehas designed a number of buildings andinteriors in and around Shoreditch including the Dirty House for the artistsSue Webster and Tim Noble, an interiorfor the artist Jake Chapman, a house forthe artist Chris Ofili, and two libraries inTower is no doubt that Rivington Placewill be a key addition to the London art scene, but more importantly.

6 It ishoped that both the building and the art work contained within it will inspire a whole generation of young people livingin Hackney and the surrounding further information about AdjayeAssociates visit PlaceA tour of Rivington Place,conducted by Tom Dyckhoff,has been arranged in March2008. Full details on theback Leisure Centre has had a troubled five-year history. AsSpacesreported in Issue 10 (Winter 2002) the leisure centrewas already two years late and vastly over budget. So when twoyears later the centre closed for major repair works, to rectify seriousstructural and design faults, you couldn t help but sympathise withlocal residents who just wanted a run-of-the-mill functioning leisurecentre that didn t cost the earth 54 million is the latest estimate by the local activist group Not the Clissold Leisure Centre,whosuccessfully protested about the scandalous waste of public money.

7 The reopened leisure centre boasts a number facilities including two25-metre swimming pools, a health suite, sports hall, fitness centre,group exercise studio, cr che, caf and a new toddler pool. I waslucky enough to have swum at Clissold before, so I knew what toexpect, but being childless at the time I had only ever swum in themain pool, so I was keen to try out the training and toddler pools. As we arrived we were greeted by swarms of GLL staff offeringtours of the building, and a promotional membership offer.

8 I waskeen for both, but wanted to get my impatient toddler into hiswetsuit, before he became too tired and hungry. Unfortunately, Iwas to be disappointed the toddler pool was not open. Anyway,we continued to the turnstile, asking other staff if there was a familychanging room. Yes, just through here . I came to the door, only tofind the door locked. Could you open the family changing room forus? It seems to be locked. Another member of staff walked overonly to be confronted by a door with no handles. Something elsefor the snagging list.

9 Once in the family changing rooms we found them ridiculously small,with no hooks to hang our clothes on. Families with very youngchildren would benefit from large unisex changing rooms, so bothparents can help get their child ready. The toddler pool does haveunisex changing rooms, but as the pool was closed we couldn tuse them. One solution would be to put another door on theinternal entrance to the toddler pool, so the changing rooms canbe kept open even when the pool is closed. Another idea thatcould easily be implemented would be to stop swimmers wearingtheir outdoor shoes in the changing rooms.

10 In other Scandinaviancountries, like Iceland, swimmers have to observe strict hygienerules and leave their shoes outside. This would help to keep thechanging areas clean. Thirty minutes later my husband and son emerged at the side of the25-metre training pool. By this time I had done a number of lengthsand was ready to get out. The training pool is fantastic for children it is warm, and the depth of the pool can be changed to suit different purposes. The main pool is also a delight to swim in, but unfortunately on theday we went you couldn t easily go from one pool to the other instead you had to take a long circuitous detour round the building inyour swimsuit.