The Southbank Centre—a large complex of Grade One listed, Modernist cultural venues on the banks of the River Thames—are poised to refurbish three of their most loved spaces: the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery. As part of this transformation, London-based practice Jonathan Tuckey Design (JTD) have been commissioned to create a new 'Archive Studio' set within the foyer of the Royal Festival Hall, all part and parcel of the Southbank Centre’s desire to open up access to their collections and archives. JTD's free-standing, self-supporting structure is "an open framework which makes the scale the archival process apparent to visitors, held together by polished brass nuts and bolts and clad in perforated hardboard."
The Southbank Centre Archive Studio allows us to explore, catalogue and arrange our collection and bring elements of this unique archive to life by making visible the processes of a working archive. The studio will allow visitors to see our archivists and volunteers at work on the collection and offer the opportunity for the public to engage directly with the archive material and play a part in the presentation and preservation of our collection. As part of the wider festival programme, there will also be regular collections focused events using the archive studio as the hub for this activity. The studio will become the catalyst for a pioneering public programme to reveal our heritage for everyone to enjoy.
