A multi-storey car park in London has been repurposed into an art centre. Levels 7 and 8 of the Peckham Car Park now accommodate Bold Tendencies, a not-for-profit organisation promoting a mix of contemporary art, orchestral music, opera and architectural projects. The site is open to the general public and has a stylish café on the rooftop.
Different from many car park transformations involving extensive redevelopment works, the organisation kept the bones of the car park showing that it is possible to completely change the use of a space with creativity and art.
Bold Tendencies arts and cultural programme promotes commissioned and site-specific artwork, concerts and operas with a new theme every year; the 2018 focus was ecology.
ptc.’s Partner and Senior Traffic Engineer, Andrew Morse, visited the Bold Tendencies last August and was impressed with the atmosphere of the place. Check out the gallery below for some photos Andrew took during his visit.
Related post:
Repurposing and future-proofing car parks
2 Responses
This is wonderful. However, we have been cautioned that the load requirements for parking structures are half that of occupied spaces, so we should proceed carefully on structures that were not designed with other uses in mind. Your thoughts on this?
Hi Paul,
Thank you for the great comment. Certainly in Australia the construction and subsequent use of buildings is governed by the Building Code of Australia (BCA) which defines all manner of requirements including structural ratings and other considerations such as ventilation, fire egress etc all of which would need to be considered. You are correct that caution should be applied (particularly to older structures) and management of the areas need to be included (eg limiting population density across a slab through the placement of lightweight installations etc). This is definitely something to bear in mind for new build projects that require future adaptive reuse.