• home
• Events
• Courses
• Research
• Alumni

• School News
• Blogs
• People
• About
• School Calendar
• Map

Site Specifics.

617 meters of machined 75mm X 52mm, 93 sheets of 12mm chip board, 77.8 meters of machined 150mm X 50mm, 8 sheets of 18mm shuttering ply a couple of thousand screws, 8 lads and 1 lass all go into one of the coolest buildings in Oxford and in 6 and a half days we have a degree show sight the likes of which the Ruskin has never had before.

This is the story of how we set the stage for the Ruskin School of Drawing’s most ambitious degree show to date.

Following the success of the 2 previous degree shows held at the SERS building on Osney Island it was decided that a fresh and challenging new venue should be sought for the 2011 show. After some negotiations the school was offered the chance to stage their show on the former site of Oxford University’s Southwell laboratory, in what was once Oxford’s power station. 

With it’s foundations spreading deep into the clay bed of the River Thames that runs along it’s side, the scale of the victorian industrial cathedral is simply overwhelming at first. Floors split over many levels connected by steep and narrow cast iron stairways and walkways. The interior is festooned with massive overhead rolling gantry cranes and the gigantic twin turbine wind tunnel that dominates the center of the building. Enormous structural ironworks, latticed girders and densely poured concrete constructs yield to provide tantalising vistas of sweeping industrial spaces and dizzying high vaulted roofs. Every corner turned seems to provide exciting avenues for juxtaposing artworks amongst peeling, shabby paintwork, industrial echos and other curious features that speak of the building’s former uses.

Walking around the place for the first time it became obvious to us that there was too much space within it’s massive sprawling bulk. It’s not a situation that we have ever faced before. The works could be in danger of being dwarfed by the imposing structures of the building or the visitors simply getting lost as they walk around the exhibition. So the decision was taken not to tackle the building as a whole but to divide it up into a series of more legible, coherent spaces.

The plan was hatched, the build team selected, the materials ordered and with a car boot filled with tools we headed to start work.

Monday morning we met at the site and after getting the materials into the building and distributing them over the 2 floors we hammered out the final details of the build.

A key decision was made here on positioning of out structures in relation to the existing fabric. In restoration of old buildings there is a saying, “Six inches or Six feet”. Simply put you either match exactly the new materials and structures with the existing architecture (six inches) or you make them clearly legible as different, non original features by setting them apart from the existing structure (six feet). Taking this as our cue, it was felt that the latter would be more a honest approach and one that was more in keeping with the over all desire for the works in the show to respond to the building rather than struggling to make it conform to the cliché of a “gallery space”. Let’s face it this site was never going to be a white cube. When surrounded by such a wealth of unique character with so many interesting little moments and details to be seen and enjoyed we tried to retain as many as we could, incorporating them into the show. As a result the interventions made into the space allow the over all aesthetic to be far more celebratory of the buildings past.

We also re sited the bar.

Tuesday saw the arrival of another 2 members of our team & the build took off at pace. Skeletal structures of walls sprang up all over the place & for the first time since our initial site visit the exhibition space began to sketch itself out within the building.

Wednesday & Thursday stretched into long days. The skeleton was fleshed out by boards cladding the frames erected the days before. As one team member left us so another was drafted in to replace him & the momentum of the build was sustained. Thursday also saw the first section of the ramp take shape.

Friday & the walls were finally completed with sharp routered edges & clean countersunk faces. Access panels & doorways finished with locks & handles. The ramp frame was completed, fixed into place. It then began to be clad in heavy shuttering ply giving another subtle nod to the poured concert structures (& their construction methods) alongside which the ramp now ran. The end of a busy week filled with long hours & sawdust the team broke with a tremendous sense of achievement. A massive amount of work had been accomplished. A big thanks to Heather, Aragorn, Tom & Matt for all your contributions over that week.

Monday morning a scaled down build team returned to address the snag list & resolve the ramp’s meeting with the uneven concrete floor of the lower level. To this end the shuttering ply was honed to a fine edge & added to the structure. The ramp’s acute angle rising crisply & smoothly from the rough floor its raw plywood standing in stark contract to the painted concrete.

The last few items on the snag list were checked off on Tuesday afternoon by the remaining members of the build team & the first phase of the degree show was completed. Jamie, Louie, Tom, Jon, Aragorn, Heather, Tom & Matt Take a bow & much props for all the hard work you guys put in. Thanks for making a massive undertaking one of the most fun builds I’v ever had the pleasure of doing. The show, the experience would have not been the same without you.

Now the finished site awaited the arrival of the finalists of 2011.

 

Visit to Afterall

Site Specifics.

Old School runners win by a stretch!