IOU Venue Opening

New Space / Old Space / Future Space

IOU based at Dean Clough in Halifax, West Yorkshire, is a company with significant experience of making live shows and contemporary art installations that combine many art forms together including sculpture, music, theatre, interactive digital works and virtual worlds.

Gagarin Studio became IOU’s  architects to design a new art space for them at Dean Clough. The space, originally a thoroughfare is now a new permanent gallery and exhibition space (facilitating a changing exhibition programme) whilst also housing a large scale IOU Studio, archive and offices for the company.

On 23 June 2016 the space was opened to the public.

It was a fantastic evening and a real thrill to see the space we’ve designed come to life, activated by visitors and members of the company. We were bowled over by the wonderful feedback and thanks we received from IOU and their supporters, audience and visitors.

David Wheeler, IOU’s Artistic Director and founder member applauded Gagarin Studio for a ‘brilliant space that reflects the ethos and aesthetic of IOU’.

We feel that the resulting space is truly collaborative and our clear aim to develop the notion of connectivity is evident throughout. The materials used unite the building and the works that inhabit the exhibition spaces aesthetically and philosophically. The volume and height of the building are highlighted by our curved aluminium proscenium, which is balanced with smaller more intimate spaces, to provide different vantage points, nooks and crannies, making visitors encounter the work of IOU in both simple and more immersive ways.

The event at Dean Clough was most certainly celebratory and our contribution to that celebration (as well as a few beers of course) was we feel … a very respectful, considered celebration, a mutual respect between client, architect and building, of history – past present and future.