Tate St Ives sits comfortably in the Cornish landscape and offers stunning views. © Tate St Ives.
Staff at Tate St Ives have announced the appointment of an architect to design a major new development that is set to transform the Cornish gallery over the next two years.
The Tate St Ives Phase Two Development will see a new building added to the existing gallery, creating much-needed space for temporary exhibitions, a learning centre and more storage.
It will be designed by Jamie Fobert Architects. Born in Canada, Jamie first came to the UK to work for renowned architect David Chipperfield, but set up his own practice in 1996. Since then he has won a RIBA Award and carried out projects for both Tate Modern and Tate Britain.
"We chose him because we thought he would be the most sensitive to the context of the town and its architecture," said Tate Director of Building, Peter Wilson, at the launch.
"Although he is young," added Peter, "we are confident that Jamie will build a sensitive building that everyone in St Ives will love."
Architect Jamie Fobert has already carried out projects for Tate Modern and Tate Britain and will now be adding Tate St Ives to his portfolio.
More than two million people have visited Tate St Ives since it opened in 1993 and at peak times the gallery often welcomes three times as many visitors as was originally projected. Staff now believe the building needs modifying to meet visitors' needs.
Scheduled for completion in 2007, the project is set to cost around £6 million. It will feature a new building on part of what is now the Barnoon Car Park, which will be accessible from the existing gallery below. This will provide additional space for temporary exhibitions, an education area, a reception, offices and storage.
As well as creating dedicated learning space at the gallery, the extension will make it possible to organise exhibitions all year round without the need to close for reinstallation.
Speaking at the launch, Tate St Ives Director, Susan Daniel-McElroy explained in addition to creating extra facilities, the aim of the project is to help create a year round tourist season for Cornwall.
"Now Cornwall has an infrastructure to attract a certain type of tourist, we have the Eden project, Tate and the Maritime Museum," said Tate St Ives Director, Susan Daniel-McElroy, "we want to see if we can extend the season in the winter period.
Tate St Ives' inspirational exhibitions have drawn visitors in their droves. Photo: Jon Pratty. © 24 Hour Museum.
According to Daniel-McElroy, the development is an essential extension of the work already carried out at the gallery and will make the vital addition of a centre for excellence in visual arts education.
"We can’t stay the same," she said, "we have too many visitors. We would have to scale back and we can’t do that. We need to keep the ship safe for the future whilst moving into a new dimension of work in education."
The development phase of the project has received financial support from Cornwall County Council as well as Objective One European funding. The challenge now is to raise the rest of the £6 million needed to carry out the building work.
Frank Chapman, Lead Officer at Cornwall County Council is keen to see the great work already achieved by Tate St Ives matched in monetary support for the project.
"It is very much the hope of the county council," he said, "that the success of the original Tate in St Ives will be replicated with investment."
