On Friday (19 July 2018), Tate St Ives was named on the shortlist of six projects in the running for the RIBA Stirling Prize 2018. Max Fordham worked with Jamie Fobert Architects (and alongside Price & Myers) on the extension to Tate St Ives, having worked with Evans and Shalev Architects on the original gallery that opened in 1993.
The 600m2 extension recently won the 2018 Art Fund ‘Museum of the Year’ award and is home to exhibitions of contemporary works, as well as art-handling facilities, offices, and specialist art storage. Max Fordham provided environmental engineering design for the project, as well as acoustics consultancy.
Tate St Ives has been described as “the product of seamless integration of strong architectural ideas and exemplary environmental design”. Max Fordham modelled the precise lux levels allowed by international standards for the display of art, from which the architect generated their form for the building. Six lightwells draw in the soft Cornish light – that has made this area so appealing to generations of artists – in a controlled manner. Jamie Fobert himself noted that ‘our main material for the project was daylight’.
These lightwells also dramatically reduced the lighting energy use in the gallery as well as improving the visitor experience.
Senior Partner Mark Nutley said,
“It is excellent that Tate St Ives has been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize this year. Jamie Fobert Architects were a joy to work with and we’re glad to be continuing our relationship on the refurbishment of the National Portrait Gallery in London.”
Mark Nutley went on to say,
“I’ve worked with Tate for over 20 years, including on the recent Switch House at Tate Modern, so we’re very proud that this project with them has made the Stirling Prize shortlist.”
Max Fordham have a long-standing relationship with Tate, having also worked on the original Tate St Ives with Evans and Shalev Architects, Tate Britain with Caruso St John Architects, Tate Storage Bricklayer’s Arms, Tate Liverpool, and the Switch House at Tate Modern with Herzog de Meuron.
It is the third year in a row that Max Fordham has had a project on the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist. In 2017, Photography Studio for Juergen Teller was shortlisted and Newport Street Gallery won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2016. Another of Max Fordham’s projects, the MAXXI gallery in Rome, won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2010.