Baltic Centre of Contemporary Arts
The refurbishment of the Baltic Flour Mills into the Centre of Contemporary Arts for the North began as an international design competition in 1994. It is the major new international centre for contemporary art, situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, Gateshead, in the North of England.
The scheme achieved full Arts Lottery funding in 1997. It involved hollowing out the old grain silos behind the listed facade and introducing new floors for galleries and performance spaces. It houses over 3,000m2 of art space (five galleries), artists' studios, a cinema/lecture space, media labs, a library and archive for the study of contemporary art and a retail outlet. There are also three different food and drink spaces, including a rooftop restaurant with amazing views of Tyneside.
Environmental Design Strategy
The main plant for the Baltic Flour Mills is located in an Energy Centre at the eastern end of the building. The original scheme included cogeneration (Combined Heat & Power) combined with absorption refrigeration and heat rejection to the river Tyne via heat exchangers. Detailed analysis and life-cycle costing suggested that the river water cooling should be dropped in favour of more conventional air cooled arrangements. The CHP & absorption refrigeration however remain and have been fully integrated into the scheme.
The gallery spaces are conditioned using a displacement cooling system, which provides stable control along with good comfort in the occupied zone in tall spaces.
All air and water plant incorporate variable speed drive controls. These have been shown to be a good investment because arts buildings only rarely operate at full load and the potential for savings in pump and fan power are extremely significant. All mechanical plant, much of the lighting and fire and security systems are controlled through an open architecture BMS system.
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
next >>
Links
http://www.balticmill.com
http://www.ewa.co.uk -- Ellis Williams Architects
