TACO! Gallery

Situated in the heart of the Thamesmead Estate, this is a new home for Thamesmead Arts and Culture Office … a gallery, event space, bookshop, cafe/bar with outdoor seating and a broadcast studio for radio RTM.FM. Our design draws on brick interventions made by residents into the concrete brutalist structures of the estate.

The new gallery walls are built in the style of a domestic house; timber-framed construction with a brick outer leaf. Inset panels in the walls can be removed, to extend the gallery into the foyer for more open and non-traditional art installations or performances. Building services are restricted to high level, and the use of underfloor heating keeps the spaces clear of the usual visual clutter of equipment and radiators, maximising flexibility for exhibition & performance programming. The soundproofed broadcast booth faces directly onto the café, with a sliding glazed window which enables an immediate connection between performers and audience.

Installation views: Got Damp by Avril Corroon (March 2023), Wendy by Frances Scott and Chu-Li Shewring (May 2023), Running on Ahead by Charlie Godet Thomas (September 2023)

Photography by David Grandorge, Marcus Quigley and Tom Carter