Chris Carthy
Chris Carthy
Four SWA projects secure affordable artists’ studios and galleries, including our environmental retrofit of Space’s Deborah House Studios in Hackney.
Over the last two years we have designed four projects that secure the affordability of creative workspace in London. We’ve developed a keen appreciation of the precarious lives of the capital’s artists: against the forces of residential development and gentrification, little stands in the way of cheap studios and warehouses being swept up for regeneration – leaving creative workspace dwindling.
With a rampant housing market and government deregulation encouraging the conversion of working to living spaces, flats are often worth four times more than equivalent-sized artists’ studios. It is said that 35% of artists’ studio buildings are under threat of loss over the next 10 years. Our recent projects with Space and Cell Projects have the challenge of workspace affordability firmly in mind.
There has long been a housing crisis in the capital. Lately this has been joined by a crisis of workspace.