The project, which started in 2004, is the reconstruction of a part of a street in London's Vauxhall district. The client, whom the jury of the Sterling Prize, the main award of RIBA, paid no less attention to than the award-winning architects Adam Caruso and Peter St. John - the artist Damien Hirst. He exhibited his rich art collection in the new gallery and made it - in the best traditions of British museums - free to visit. Thus, the cultural institution immediately became a new center of attraction for the developing area, and its popularity for the first year of operation (the gallery opened in the fall of 2015) pleases the owner very much.
Hirst originally wanted to preserve the history and "roots" of the historic buildings that became the core of the new structure: this is the carpentry and decoration workshops that served the theaters of the West End, three houses locked into the "terrace". They face Newport Street, on the opposite side of which there are train tracks - so a large LED screen is placed on the facade of the gallery, advertising the display for train passengers.
These three buildings are now extended from the ends by two new buildings, one of them with a characteristic jagged end. The facades of the new parts are made of light red bricks typical of the surrounding buildings.
Inside, the new and old parts are combined: the two main exhibition floors are occupied by a suite of three rooms, vertically connected by spectacular spiral staircases and a large elevator. Downstairs there is a restaurant and a museum shop facing the street.
The Sterling Prize jury praised the quality of the materials used and the handling, the attention to detail that is reminiscent of the craftsmanship of the artisans, albeit created with modern technology.
