This former brewery building has a reinforced concrete skeleton frame structure with brick infill panels. The large, column-free internal spaces can be flexibly divided and offer ideal working conditions for the artists who now use them. The foyer, additional circulation areas, sanitary facilities, common rooms and discussion spaces are housed in a new tract with a steel load-bearing structure. This fully glazed strip is three metres deep and extends over the entire width and height of the south face of the existing building. The old facade remains visible as a second plane through the new glazed skin. The stairs within the extension – a series of irregular links between storeys of different height – create a further layer that accentuates the complex appearance of this face.