WELCOME
THE BATTERSEA ARTS CENTRE PLAYGROUND PROJECT
CREATING A 21ST CENTURY SPACE IN A 19TH CENTURY BUILDING.Battersea Arts Centre is based in the building which was originally constructed to house Battersea Town Hall: a labyrinthine building with over 80 rooms and a rich, complex, often volatile history dating back to 1893. Battersea Arts Centre’s relationship with the building spans over five decades of creativity, community and multiple campaigns to save the building. Since 2006 we have been engaged in a project to architecturally develop the building through a process we call “BAC Playground Projects”. This site tells the story of the process and has been made possible by Arts Council England's RENEW programme. |
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WHAT IS PLAYGROUNDING?
The Old Town Hall in Images |
![]() WHAT IS PLAYGROUNDING?‘Playgrounding’ is a term coined by David Jubb, who was appointed Artistic Director of Battersea Arts Centre in 2004, working closely with architect, Steve Tompkins of Haworth Tompkins. Over ten years ago Battersea Arts Centre created an approach to theatre called ‘Scratch’, which has now been taken on across the world by organisations such as Sydney Opera House, the Royal Court and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Playgrounding is the practice of applying the ideas of ‘Scratch’ to the architectural process, a design methodology that places artists and audiences at the centre of the architectural process. Playgrounding develops ideas through collaboration, before testing them through a series of low cost investments. This allows for more fluidity and flexibility, giving good ideas the opportunity to mature over longer periods of research. We believe this process delivers richer, more creative results that better meets artists’ and audiences’ needs. The idea of Playgrounding is simply about artists, staff and audiences doing what we all used to do in our playgrounds, creating flexible worlds in which anything could happen. The significance of Battersea Arts Centre as a found space in this concept is important. As David points out, often the very best games are those played in the areas of the playground that have not been especially equipped or designed – ‘the parts of the playground where we could create our own worlds.’ |
![]() Steve TompkinsSteve Tompkins is a Director of Haworth Tompkins Architects who has been the key collaborative partner involved from the very beginning of the project. |
![]() David JubbDavid Jubb is the Artistic Director of Battersea Arts Centre. He has been at the helm of the project since its inception and continues to oversee it as Project Director. |
FROM SCRATCH TO PLAYGROUNDING
“Battersea Arts Centre has the rare accolade of being a genuinely local theatre which is also a vastly important national resource. Battersea Arts Centre has this country’s best developed process for nurturing new artists and new shows. If there is one place which has a genuine claim to be Britain’s most influential theatre it is Battersea Arts Centre.”Lyn Gardner, The Guardian |
![]() FROM SCRATCH TO PLAYGROUNDINGThe Scratch process is based on six principles which define the ethos of Battersea Arts Centre and the flavour of the work it produces:
We wanted to find a process for changing our building which takes account of instinct and story, accidental discovery, messiness, a search for the unknown and a love of play. In another word, theatre. |
![]() Maddy CostaMaddy Costa is a feature writer for The Guardian and runs Dialogue with fellow theatre writer Jake Orr. |
![]() David JubbDavid Jubb is the Artistic Director of Battersea Arts Centre. Here he explains the Scratch process. |
THE TEAM
![]() THE BAC TEAMBAC Playground Projects have involved many different members of the Battersea
Art Centre staff team since 2006. However, there have been a few key individuals
that have driven the project forward. David Jubb, Artistic Director, has been at the
helm of the project since its inception and continues to oversee it as Project
Director. David Micklem, during his time as Joint Artistic Director (2008-2012)
was also integral to its planning and delivery.
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Haworth TompkinsHaworth Tompkins is pioneering a new way of building design by working with artists and audiences through creative projects: defining a programme of works over a period of time and creating an on-going dialogue between user and designer. Haworth Tompkins' credits include:
For a host of projects including:
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“We have tried to imagine an architectural proposal not as a standalone, all-encompassing design that artists would then attempt to inhabit, but as a seamless, on-going dialogue with the building that originates in the creative perception of the artists themselves. Our aim has been to generate a new/old, composite architectural space backwards from a collectively envisaged performance in that space, to look at the architectural design process through the ‘wrong’ end of the telescope as it were”.Steve Tompkins |
![]() Steve TompkinsSteve Tompkins is a Director of Haworth Tompkins Architects. He has taught and lectured extensively at a number of UK schools of architecture and is currently Visiting Professor of Architecture at the University of Greenwich, guest critic at Cambridge and external examiner at Dundee. He has exhibited architectural work at the RIBA and the RA, as well as landscape paintings at various UK galleries. |
ABOUT BATTERSEA ARTS CENTRE
“The whole theatre scene in the UK has been enormously influenced by the work that has gone on at Battersea Arts Centre over the last twenty years. Some of it high profile but much more in a quiet but consistent way.”Alistair Spalding, |
![]() OUR MISSIONOur mission is to Invent the Future of Theatre |
![]() David JubbDavid Jubb is Artistic Director of Battersea Arts Centre. |
![]() Michael DayMichael Day is Chair of the Battersea Arts Centre board, and Chief Executive of Historic Royal Palaces. |
![]() Toby JonesToby Jones is Patron of Battersea Arts Centre. He is an actor who is known for his roles in films such as Infamous (2006), Frost/Nixon (2008), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Berberian Sound Studio (2012) and The Hunger Games (2012). Jude KellyJude Kelly was the first Artistic Director of Battersea Arts Centre (1980 - 1985). She is currently Artistic Director of Southbank Centre. |
![]() STATSArtists who have developed work at Battersea Arts Centre include:
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