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Tracey Emin is a total British icon, so it’s only natural that everything she touches becomes iconic too. That certainly goes for her former Spitalfields studio, which she began using as a red-hot Young British Artist (YBA) in the early 2000s. Emin announced her move to Margate in 2016, leaving a question mark over the building’s future.
Now, the London-based Chris Dyson Architects has won planning permission to transform the former creative hub into homes and commercial units.
In 2015, Emin, who worked at 1-5 Tenter Ground, appointed the architect David Chipperfield to mastermind a plan to knock down the adjacent 66-68 Bell Lane and link the studio to a new home. Tower Hamlets Council rejected the plan amid opposition from local residents.
At the time, she said to the Guardian: ‘Why would you want to be somewhere you’re not wanted? What I’m going to do now is move out of London. I don’t have any choice on that … There’s places now in Britain that are desperate for artists – Margate’s thriving, Folkestone, Hastings. All that Kent coast. And I could have a giant studio and be really relaxed.’
Emin made good on the statement, although it’s worth noting that she was granted permission to link the buildings in 2019. It was evidently too little, given that she’s now based in Cliftonville, the super-cool Margate neighbourhood (that’s set to get a new £1.1m skatepark).
In a statement, Chris Dyson Architects – which has its headquarters in Spitalfields – explained that the former studio is currently owned by a family who have instructed it to draw up plans for their home, as well as two flats and commercial workspace. The family purchased the building in 2020.
‘The project took a few design iterations to progress successfully through planning,’ said Chris Dyson, ‘but plans can now unite the two buildings on this island site as one, with the inclusion of a new lift and stair core that manages the level changes between them.
‘A large residence and two smaller one-bedroom residences will be created, sitting over a commercial arts space – a positive contribution to the neighbourhood that retains the artistic character of the building.’
It’s not the only thing in London that might leave Tracey Emin feeling reflective, given that the largest-ever retrospective of her art is currently on display at the Tate Modern.
In a glowing five-star review of Tracey Emin: A Second Life, which runs until August 31, Time Out’s Gary Grimes wrote: ‘Part of what makes [the exhibition] so dynamic is the diversity of Emin’s practice.'
‘Over the course of four decades, the artist has dabbled in – and arguably mastered – a variety of disciplines, from textiles, upholstery and embroidery, to photography and screenprinting, to bronze casts and large-scale sculptures, such as a recreation of the wooden rollercoaster in Dreamland, a symbol of her childhood in Margate.’
Did you hear about the iconic Tracey Emin artworks that were shown on billboards around London?
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