Materials

Here are two images of the original South London Gallery entrance and the recent extension of it. It is clear there is a contrast of materials used within each facade.

The original entrance is mostly made from white marble and a bit of stained glass and wood; marble is a material which has been commonly used because of its strength and smooth surface. Where as, the extension entrance has been made from a combination of traditional materials such as brick, glass and coated metal.             

The doors on each entrance also differ from one another due to their difference in material; wood and coated metal reflecting where they lie in history.  Also, an aspect that defines these two buildings is firstly, when looking into the traditional entrance, it reflects its materiality in the inside; however, the facade of the Victorian house contrasts with the materiality of its interior.  

Entrance

The detail on this part of the entrance, looks very smooth and newly done, this is shown through the dirt-free surface and thus, contrasts to the unclean bricks placed just below it. In addition, this shows that the material has been unchanged like in other areas of the gallery and instead a new layer has been added to create a more contemporary look.

Materials that indicates 

time

Here we’ve captured two different materials which define time through the texture of their surface and type of material. For example, the first image of the bricks located on the facade have a really rough surface, look worn out and dirty. Where as, the handle of the new stairs constructed have a clean, smooth surface. Thus, creating a link between ‘old’ and ‘rough’ with ‘contemporary’ and ‘smooth’.

Staircases

The staircase on the left is a new construction by 6A architects, where as the stairs on the right are the original  in the South London Gallery.

As soon as we saw the new staircase we wanted to touch the handle because it looked  like it had a smooth and shiny surface. Its grip was comfortable to the hand, where as the old staircase had a bulky and an uncomfortable feel to it.

The new wood added to the staircase contrasts with the untouched old wooden flooring which creates an eerie but attractive atmosphere. It makes you feel as though you are in two locations at the same time. It gives you a new and old experience.

Moreover, the white smooth clean walls create a minimalistic look, leaving you to interact more with the design of the building instead of focusing on detail that’s not there. There is a limited palette of materials and less detail on them immediately focussing your attention on detailed areas like, door handles which lie between contemporary civic architecture and late Victorian domestic architecture. 

Open dining area

The dining area for the cafe extends to the back looking out onto the fox garden. There is a clear indication of the inside and outside merging. This is done by the use of big glass windows and doors allowing vast amount of light to reflect of the white walls and open the view to the fox garden. The garden plays a role of calming the atmosphere. It is probably the only colourful view and so draws all the attention to it.  The gold leaf mural designed by Paul Morrison helps circulate the light around the room through the shine. The drawing contrasts with the architecture of the conservative Victorian house.

Smelling the wooden furniture in the dining area.

New extension's facade 

- Concrete plate

The exterior looking onto the garden is a striking contrast with the facade of the gallery. The surface of the wall is made up of overlapping cement board panels in different gray shades these are held together with specially made brass clips. This post-modernist exterior works well with the timber frame giving a contrast of a solid hard base with a touch of soft timber on top. It also creates an illusion where we were led onto believing that the material actually used was a type of new tiled material.     

The design of the building  determines the materials used which contrasts with the original south London gallery where the materials defined the design.       

                                                                      

A lift with surprise

The modern lift looks out of place, as you wouldn’t expect this kind of high tech technology in an ordinary Victorian house.

The 6A architects have cleverly put old flooring into the lift creating a sense of old into new which contradicts the technique used throughout the rest of the house where normally new has been placed into old.

Recording with latex - Texture of facade

Recording with latex - Facade

Taking a latex sample of the façade was difficult as the latex would run down the smooth exterior creating a rather thin, abstract sample that doesn’t help with analysing but we can defiantly come to the conclusion that the façade is cleaner then usual. 

Recording with latex - Texture of the garden floor

The front garden of the house has merged into the front entrance of the gallery. These seem to fit together very well as there flooring is the same. In order to look further into the concrete floor texture in the front entrance we created latex samples. This was a success as it was a flat surface and the latex therefore had enough time to dry. Through this experiment we can see that even though there is a modern approach towards the extension but the facade and the entrance have been preserved maybe to suite and blend in with the gallery or maybe its so it doesn’t distract the monotonous look of the residential road. The floor is dirty, old and uneven. It may also be that to keep the trees growing in the entrance the architects decided not to renovate the entrance. 

(Bug-Couldn't remove this gap)


The front garden of the house has merged into the front entrance of the gallery. These seem to fit together very well as there flooring is the same. In order to look further into the concrete floor texture in the front entrance we created latex samples. This was a success as it was a flat surface and the latex therefore had enough time to dry. Through this experiment we can see that even though there is a modern approach towards the extension but the facade and the entrance have been preserved maybe to suite and blend in with the gallery or maybe its so it doesn’t distract the monotonous look of the residential road. The floor is dirty, old and uneven. It may also be that to keep the trees growing in the entrance the architects decided not to renovate the entrance. 


When taking latex prints of the floor outside we managed to map the movement of people going into the gallery. The series of photos above show the movement of a lady with a pushchair. If you focus on the latex there is a missing gap. That is where the wheel marks are.

This is a drawing to show the texture of the garden floor.