Nottingham New Art Exchange

The New Art Exchange by architects Hawkins\Brown was launched last month in Nottingham. It is the UK’s first regional inner city contemporary visual arts centre devoted solely to the promotion of Black and Asian arts. It includes 1,500 square metres of mixed-use art space with a gallery, workshop, café and rehearsal facilities on four storeys.Situated in the Hyson Green district of Nottingham, the arts centre has provided new facilities for the local community helping to regenerate one of the East Midland’s most deprived areas. The building, which is distinguished from the red clay buildings of the neighbourhood by its black brick facade, deploys a concrete frame to support the external skin with an arrangement of frameless windows ranging in size.

Hawkins\Brown worked closely with the resident artists on the design of the building and the visual artist Hew Locke added a site specific ceiling installation in the ground floor café, which comprises aluminium plates embossed with imagery of the local area, promoting the centre’s relationship with its surroundings.