Baltic Arts Centre, Gateshead
Architect: Gelder and Kitchen Architects - 1950s Building; Ellis Williams Architects – 2002 Conversion
Customer: HBG Construction/BAM Construct
The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (BALTIC) is an international centre for modern art. It is located on the south bank of the River Tyne alongside the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in Gateshead, North East England. It presents a constantly changing programme of exhibitions and events and is a world leader in the presentation, commissioning and communication of contemporary visual art.
The Baltic Flour Mill was originally built by the Rank Hovis company in 1950 and was extended in 1957 by the addition of an animal feed mill. The mill was closed in 1981, leaving two empty flour mills in close proximity on either side of the banks of the River Tyne. Spillers Mill was the other half of the brace of mills and was located adjacent to John Porter’s original factory in St Lawrence Road.
Ellis Williams Architects won an architectural competition in the mid 1990s to convert the 1950s Baltic Flour Mill into a centre for art. After a capital investment of £50m, including £33.4m from the Arts Council Lottery Fund, BALTIC opened to the public at midnight on Saturday 13 July 2002.
The inaugural exhibition, B.OPEN, featured work by Chris Burden, Carsten Holler, Julian Opie, Jaume Plensa and Jane & Louise Wilson and attracted over 35,000 visitors in the first week.
John Porters performance doorsets were used extensively throughout, featuring matt, white factory painted finishes, in storey height doorset configurations. The technical challenges were meeting the durability requirements of high traffic areas with easy clean, but matt, painted finishes.
Nearly 10 years later, the facility remains fresh, vibrant, and protected by John Porter engineered doorsets.
