The Southwark council have selected the proposal by Carl Turner Architects and The Collective (also behind Pop Brixton) to turn the Peckham car park into a temporary retail and events space, The Art Newspaper reports, over the plan to convert it into 800 artists’ studios. The latter, imagined by former advisor to the British Prime Minister Rohan Silva and Hannah Barry, founder of the non-profit arts organisation Bold Tendencies which has used the space to host summertime exhibitions as well as Frank’s rooftop bar, had received support from cultural leaders, including the outgoing director of Tate Modern, Chris Dercon, and the UK culture minister, Ed Vaizey.
Under the name Pop Community Ltd, the winning proposal will present a mixture of retail spaces, 50 artists’ studios, workshops, co-work zones, and meeting spaces – at least for the next five years. Although the complex will have to work alongside both Bold Tendencies and Frank’s Café (as the application required), Barry and Silva said this decision “leaves the future of this award-winning art project in jeopardy”.
6 November 2015.
