KWK Promes transforms Czech slaughterhouse into art gallery with rotating walls

[Celerity]

https://www.dezeen.com/2024/04/28/plato-contemporary-art-gallery-kwk-promes/













Architecture studio KWK Promes has converted a slaughterhouse in the Czech Republic into Plato Contemporary Art Gallery, with exhibition spaces lined with rotating concrete walls. Located in Ostrava, the original heritage-protected slaughterhouse building dates back to the 19th century, but after decades of disuse, it had become dilapidated and partially collapsed.















Tasked with adapting the structure into an art gallery, KWK Promes added an extension and concrete infills that contrast the existing sooty brickwork but mimic its ornamentation. These additions include six large rotating walls, three of which provide entry to Plato Contemporary Art Gallery and three that allow its exhibition spaces to be opened to the surroundings.













"We introduced a solution that makes art more democratic," explained the studio. "The main idea of the project is based on preserving the functionality of the openings as shortcuts connecting the building to the city," it added. "This has provided artists and curators with entirely new exhibition possibilities and allows art to literally 'go out' into the space around the building."













Plato Contemporary Art Gallery's rotating walls create two entrances on either side of the building, leading into a central reception, ticket office and cafe area. The four exhibition halls each sit on the ground floor around the edges of the building, allowing them to benefit from natural light and a connection to the surrounding park.

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