By retaining an existing warehouse on the site my proposal celebrates the industrial heritage of Brentford by repurposing a vacant shed and bus garage into a multi-purpose building where the local community can gather, perform, play or work. The warehouse is complemented by a new building and tower to become a Palace for the People that welcomes the public from the adjacent high street.
The proposal sits alongside the Thames Lock where the Grand Union Canal meets the River Thames, and an existing bridge to an artist island intersects the ground floor. The polycarbonate clad tower contains the circulation and acts as a marker from the high street. The text on the ground signifies public space and runs right through the ground floor of the building, highlighting the completely civic and open nature of the palace.
Colourful sliding panels clad the new building and can be adjusted to become sun-shading mechanisms as awnings. Non-prescriptive of functions the palace may become anything that serves the community it supports, from a theatre to a vaccination centre. It can be a place of interaction where children playing football on the new public space meet new friends on their way to the recording studios.
