Technical study: Tate St Ives extension, St Ives, Cornwall

Tate St Ives extenation front

Jamie Fobert’s discreet subterranean gallery extension has calmed locals’ concerns about the impact on the town’s skyline and reflects in its design all the elements that make St Ives special

Project Tate St Ives extension

Architect Jamie Fobert Architects

Location St Ives, Cornwall

A principal reason why the modest town of St Ives has a Tate gallery is because of the unique quality of the light. Sunlight reflects off the sea surrounding the narrow peninsula where the town is located in a bright, luminous light, a quality that has been drawing artists here for 200 years. Artists associated with St Ives include Barbara Hepworth, painters Ben Nicholson and Alfred Wallis and the potter Bernard Leach. The Tate St Ives was opened in 1993 to exhibit the works of the St Ives School.

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