After almost two years of intense building work, The Photographers' Gallery is ready to celebrate its newly renovated and extended HQ at the crossroads of Soho and Oxford Street in London.
The existing brick and steel-frame warehouse building, accessed via the serene Ramilles Street, a few steps down from the bustle of Oxford Street, was redesigned by award-winning Irish architects O'Donnell + Tuomey. The architects extended it upwards and sideways to create much needed, high quality and airy display areas for what is now the largest gallery in London dedicated to photography. The extension also helps support the building's load in a more efficient way.
The new parts are visible, dark-rendered and jut slightly forward towards the street. Towards the top of the building, three levels of clean, minimal, high-ceilinged galleries make for an ideal exhibition space. Beneath these is an office level and a large education and events room (which will include a camera obscura). The ground level hosts a café, while a generous cut of the ground floor slab gives access to a bookshop and print sales area in the basement.
Wood details - such as the untreated hardwood timber façade elements and the oak flooring - are carefully placed throughout, as are a series of large openings that bring in plenty of light. Those openings span floor to ceiling and offer carefully framed views out towards the surrounding urban landscape. In contrast, apart from those few periscope-like openings, the gallery rooms feature no windows, allowing for the very best climate controlled exhibition display halls.
Meanwhile, plans for exhibitions to spill out on the street and take over the nearby building's back walls are in development, with new work being commissioned for an outdoors program. The Gallery is also hoping to get the street pedestrianised in the near future. 'The whole ambience will change,' says director Brett Rogers.
Officially opening on the 19th May with a spectacular exhibition of celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky's large-format industrial landscape work, titled 'Oil', The Photographers' Gallery is our new favourite cultural destination in Central London.
Architects O'Donnell + Tuomey have extended the building upwards and sideways to create more much-needed exhibition space
Atop the building are three levels of clean, minimal and high-ceilinged exhibition space
Wood details - such as the untreated hardwood timber façade elements and the oak flooring - are carefully placed throughout...
... as are a series of large openings that bring in plenty of light
The extend Photographers' Gallery reopens with a spectacular exhibition of celebrated Canadian series of large-format industrial landscape work, titled 'Oil'. Pictured is 'Shipbreaking #13, Chittagong, Bangladesh', 2000. Courtesy of Nicholas Metivier, Toronto / Flowers, London
'Highway #1, Intersection 105 & 110, Los Angeles, California, USA,' by Edward Burtynsky, 2003.
'Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA', by Edward Burtynsky, 2008.
'Alberta Oil Sands #2, Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada', by Edward Burtynsky, 2007.
-
Love, community, anti-gay laws: the queer African artists redefining visibility through portraitsIn honour of Pride Month, Ugonnaora Owoh speaks to three artists on African queer legacies and their optimism in advocating for queer rights through art
-
A beauty lover’s tour of Tokyo: hair, nails, shopping and bathingPart 2 of our Summer in Tokyo beauty series sees Lara Johnson-Wheeler seeking out the city’s best beauty spots
-
Wolves Lane Centre brings greenery, growing and grass roots togetherWolves Lane Centre, a new, green community hub in north London by Material Cultures and Studio Gil, brings to the fore natural materials and a spirit of togetherness
-
Get lost in Megan Rooney’s abstract, emotional paintingsThe artist finds worlds in yellow and blue at Thaddaeus Ropac London
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
London calling! Artists celebrate the city at Saatchi YatesLondon has long been an inspiration for both superstar artists and newer talent. Saatchi Yates gathers some of the best
-
Alexandra Metcalf creates an unsettling Victorian world in LondonAlexandra Metcalf turns The Perimeter into a alternate world in exhibition, 'Gaaaaaaasp'
-
Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska’s new show at Kettle’s Yard will uncover the missing narratives in everyday life storiesThe artists and partners in life are collaborating on an immersive takeover of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, in an exhibition that delves into a lost literary legacy
-
Sexual health since 1987: archival LGBTQIA+ posters on show at Studio VoltaireA look back at how grassroots movements emphasised the need for effective sexual health for the LGBTQIA+ community with a host of playful and informative posters, now part of a London exhibition
-
Ten things to see at London Gallery WeekendAs 125 galleries across London take part from 6-8 June 2025, here are ten things not to miss, from David Hockney’s ‘Love’ series to Kayode Ojo’s look at the superficiality of taste
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
