Jackson’s Garage, located in the centre of Aberdeen is currently occupied by Slaters, Oddbins and Prohibition. We were tasked with adding an art gallery, coupled with studio spaces for resident artists to work within.

My main concept began with creating a new entrance from what I perceive to be the nicer area of the site, Bon Accord Square. The staircase is the main entrance for the nightclub, Prohibition and Slaters above it as well as the art gallery and studio spaces. The existing rounded entrance to the north still provides entrance to Oddbins and the added café mezzanine above. The café was added to provide the artists with a space to relax away from their work.

The art gallery and studio space is intended to appear like a mountain with its solid, singular composition. There are small inserts in the walls of the staircase to help preview smaller pieces of art work to entice people going to Slaters or prohibition to also look at the artwork in the gallery. The lights in the centre are to light up the artwork and create an interesting atmosphere in the night, which could also be replaced with art work hanging from the ceiling.

I wanted to replace the reinforced concrete structure with a steel structure, to facilitate the café mezzanine and better integrate the extension to the roof.