Tradeston Visual Media Arts Centre Part 2 Project 2008 Frederick Wilson Robert Gordon University | UK Tradeston Visual Media Arts Centre The proposed Master plan will take precedence from the narrow streets that once cut the urban blocks of the 1900’s Tradeston. These streets gave it a unique character and set it apart from the rest of Glasgow. The Visual Arts Media Centre will enforce the themes of the Master plan and become a focal point for the regeneration of Tradeston. A spine staircase connects the existing with the new, the creative studios with the gallery spaces. Clad in perforated Corten sheets only cut by window openings the building takes on a sculptural feel and the dramatic staging of open versus closed, visible versus hidden, is transformed into a play of perception through the movement and changing viewpoints of the observer, which is reflected by the forever changing views through the newly proposed narrow streets. Professor Alan Dunlop’s Description of the Tradeston Visual Media Arts Centre Glasgow and it's River. The brief for the Masters year was rigorous and ambitious : to create a workable masterplan which would encourage the development of an imaginative design project , with the overarching intention of breathing life back into moribund stretches of Glasgow's riverfront. A task that would would challenge any architect. Fred Wilson has met that challenge full on and produced work that was thoughtful and sensitive but also radical and controversial. They took risks, worked hard and assuaged any criticism with insight, enthusiasm and a knowledge of historic context and of precedent. Tradeston Fred Wilson carried out comprehensive research on regeneration projects in other northern European cities, including Dublin, Hamburg, Rotterdam and Berlin. Cities that had areas like Tradeston, where once thriving communities and businesses had been displaced but architects were reinvigorating with proposals for new buildings and sensitive and appropriate design. He also investigated current development proposals for Tradeston and concluded that they were stalling because at the heart of the area were historic buildings and could not be removed and these were proving to be a barrier to development. Fred used regeneration models from the cities he had studied, those which recognised the worth of retaining historic structures and designed a fresh and unique arts project, with studios, galleries, new public space and artists accommodation. A proposal which would bring historic buildings back into beneficial use and people back to Tradeston. Knitting together disparate areas of townscape, he developed an imaginative masterplan which linked existing and proposed new routes and replicated the high density that once existed, creating mixed development on a human scale. His use of materials related to the programme for his building is highly imaginative and the planning of what is a complex project deeply impressive, as is the quality of detailing and thought of construction.