The Quad is located next to the historic Guildhall Market in Derby’s
Cathedral Quarter, the cultural zone of the city centre around the
cathedral. It houses a large environmentally controlled exhibition
space, two cinemas, education facilities, a café and informal exhibition
spaces.
The structure has a dramatic, twisted form, with volumes projecting out of
the building. It was inspired by the silk mills of Derby’s
industrial past - the sculpted volume mimics the spinning action of the
mills. Natural stone from a quarry in Matlock has been used to clad
the concrete frame and matches the historic buildings in the Cathedral
Quarter.
Visitors enter under an overhanging glass box into a double height
reception with a café. The café is glazed on two sides and open to the
reception which creates an open and airy ground floor. The whole
ground floor is punctuated with large openings so that the space
connects to the Guildhall and allows activity to spill out onto the
marketplace.
The main exhibition space occupies the rear of the ground floor. It
can be used to display high value artworks and has Category A
environmental and security certification.
The space is designed to be flexible. It can be used as a single
large space or as multiple smaller rooms using partitions. A small
classroom connects directly to the space and is used for public
engagement and teaching.
To the left of the reception, a broad staircase serves as the main
circulation and acts as an additional gallery space. It has large open
windows looking out over the city and flooding the space with
daylight. Works line the corridors to overcome some of the formality
associated with visiting an exhibition.
The first floor contains office space for the Quad staff and
provision for other community and arts organisations. A large
computer lab, video editing suite and artists studios are available for
the public, extending the community reach of the building.
Two cinemas, a small bar and a public meeting space occupy the top
floor. The meeting room occupies the fully-glazed overhanging box with
dramatic views over the market square.
The building has a number of sustainable features:
- concrete frame construction providing a thermal mass for heating- automated passive cooling system (Building Management System)- photovoltaic panels on the south facing elevation- locally sourced stone cladding.
