Percy Williams Building
The texture that you see on the signs which flank the Percy Williams Building comes from the geometric grid seen in the staircase grills. These perfectly uniform little squares form a backdrop of regularity to the creative and expressive work that goes on inside these studios.
Contemporary, BREEAM certified and specifically designed to meet the needs of artists and creative businesses, this building is the largest on the Krowji site. In 2015 a major redevelopment plan for our Old Grammar School site saw the footprint of the derelict dining hall and classrooms demolished to make way for a state-of-the-art eco building. This was Phase 1, which includes 50 studios that have been home to a wide range of creative practices since they opened. In 2020 we were delighted to launch the second phase of the development when we added 21 new studios to the Percy Williams Building.
This bespoke building is home to a rich mixture of tenants including creative agencies, heritage organisations, digital businesses, designers, makers and visual artists. Across the entire Percy Williams Building tenants have access to custom built washrooms, multiple tea points, and accessible facilities including showers and an industrial size lift.
The Percy Williams Building is a large, three floor structure, and has a slightly industrial, modern feel in contrast with some of the other buildings that make up our creative hub. The large ground floor spaces have double door external access, while many of the small, medium and large first and second are bright and airy, with some large double height windows. The top floor north facing penthouse studios boast some rather gorgeous views out over the North Cornwall coast while the south facing studios look out towards the Redruth hills around Carn Brea.
The North Light Block
The design for the North Light Block signage draws its inspiration from the undulating metal cladding that runs along sections of the building. With glass covering much of this single storey building, these panels bring some texture to the ever-present reflections.
Named the North Light Block due to the sky lights spread across the roof, this wing of the Krowji site has its own distinct feel to it. This is where you find the Krowji reception office, the main point of contact for studio tenants and visitors. A number of large rooms have been partitioned off to create individual spaces within shared studios.
Our ceramicists hub is located here, with 6 studios arranged with a communal wash area, an essential for those working with clay. These studios are bright and airy, each with the capacity for power supplies appropriate for kiln operation.
Another of these large spaces is home to some of our jewellers and goldsmiths. Their area is again partitioned off to create individual spaces, to which each maker has imbued their own workshop style.
The North Light Block also includes a third partitioned space, shared by creatives working across fine art, photography and illustration practices.
The North Light block is also home to the Creative Kernow offices. This is a hive of activity in the heart of Krowji supporting the creative and cultural sector. Creative Kernow is the parent organisation for the programmes Carn to Cove, C Fylm, Cornwall 365 Network, Cornwall 365 What’s On, Cultivator, FEAST, Krowji, Open Studios Cornwall and Screen Cornwall. They support the production, promotion and distribution of work by creative practitioners across Cornwall.
With the long, windowed corridor opening onto the central courtyard and its picnic tables, this space has a real community feel to it, and the café is conveniently close at hand! One of the other lovely aspects of the North Light Block is that is home to our in-house display space ‘Made at Krowji’. ‘Made at Krowji’ is a revolving collection of work made by our Krowji tenants which provides an interesting browse, and a taste of the diversity of the work created onsite.
Science Block
The Science Block abstract pattern is featured on its main entrance sign. This pattern is inspired by the retro ceiling tiles found inside the single storey-building. No longer home to science classrooms, this block is now a small hub of creativity and colour. The range of materials used by artists here, from glass to textiles to paint, is a testament to the diversity evident across our creative hub.
Made up of 6 self-contained studios, the Science Block earns its name from as throwback to its previous educational life. Each studio here can be accessed from the main door and corridor, and some benefit from their own private external doors. The Science Block is home to Krowji tenants working across painting, pottery, jewellery, fashion and glass design. The building is a busy and creative space, with its own sense of independence. All of the studios have sinks installed and enjoy the outside green space to the rear of the building.
1907 Building
The 1907 Building pattern reflects its history as the main entrance hall of the former school with the tell-tale outline of the original terrazzo floor in what is now our foyer and café entrance.
1907 marks the year the Old Grammar School opened, and as the oldest building on site, the 1907 Building has all of the hallmarks of a beautifully untouched 20th century granite construction. Tall, vast windows allow floods of light to pour into the foyer, a feature which explains part of why this studio area of Krowji is incredibly popular with fine artists and print makers. The wide staircase leading you up to the first floor speaks to a faded, century-old grandeur, lined as it is with large house plants that sit in its ample windowsills, drinking in the sunlight.
The studios themselves are predominantly medium to large, high ceiling spaces, allowing for lots of large artwork to be hung up and viewed by its maker from a distance. We do also have some small self-contained studios and shared spaces arranged through partitioning in this building, which helps the individual artist in these segmented rooms benefit from the character of this building, while having less of a footprint. On the ground floor, the happy atmosphere of the Stones Krowji café is nestled underneath the quieter and more focused air of the artistic studios above it. The café provides a warm, social, lively hub of creative encounters and chatter for all Krowji tenants, Creative Kernow staff, and the wider public.
Elliott Hut
The Elliott Hut pattern is recognisable as the woodgrain that makes up its wooden construction. It also naturally echoes the textures found in the materials used by the woodworkers who call this building home.
Here you will find two of Krowji’s long-term tenants, housed in two large workshops well suited to their carpentry and woodworking needs. While still on the main Krowji site, the Elliott Hut is quite separate to the other building, accommodating much noisier, or dustier, practices than elsewhere on site. It benefits from easy car park access for deliveries of large scale works.
The Old Schoolhouse
The pattern for the signage on the Old School House building comes from the original parquet flooring found inside. This building had many different uses during its school life and its varied history is reflected in the interesting and eclectic creative functions this building now serves.
The Old School House is another stand-alone building on the Krowji site, situated at the edge of the rear car park. The building has its own private entrance and is now split into a single ground floor studio and a second studio upstairs. Both spaces are flooded with light due to their large tall windows, and the period features continue with the beautiful original parquet floor. Unique to the Old School House, on the first floor you will find Bill’s Attic, a remarkable project undertaken by FEAST. It is the manifestation of the project to capture, catalogue, and harness the peaks, depths and expanse of the creative process of Bill Mitchell, the late visionary artistic director of WildWorks. The space can be hired by creatives and other enterprises on a short term basis, providing both an archive and a stimulating, inspiring place in which to create work.
The Yard
Using the Quay Studio concept design for the main Krowji site as a jumping off point we are developing signage for the yard in keeping with the overall Krowji site designs but with its own separate identiy. The Yard’s texture comes from the pattern created by the arching the block work above the beautiful old wide window of the central building on the site.
The Yard is located a short distance from the main Krowji site off of Falmouth Road in Redruth. This area provides a much-needed location for our tenants whose creative work is somewhat more noisy or industrial than we are able to accommodate at the main site. The Yard has a unique character and history as the original site of Percy Williams Builders yard, and it is a site that is still undergoing redevelopment. A collection of 17 rustic workspaces makes up the site, each with differing profiles and sizes. Almost all of these units are self-contained, and the large communal yard space offers a very practical and accessible option for those creative practitioners working on a larger scale.
