Gallery MIMA from the workshop EEA - Key to the revitalization of Middlesbrough

Rotterdam - Erick van Egeraat has completed a new building for the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) in the United Kingdom. The EEA design won an international competition in 2002 and is part of an urban regeneration project. The plan included the creation of a square, which was developed in collaboration with the West 8 studio.

The square and the building are located on a previously abandoned edge of the city center. Together they form a key element of the revitalization project.
The scale of the gallery and the square is derived from the surrounding buildings, and the materials respect the existing houses. White limestone and glass make the gallery a bright, open, and accessible building. The play of grass and oxidized panels creates a connection across the square, giving the neglected place friendliness and attraction.
The defining space of the gallery is a glass hall over 16 meters high, which reveals a central staircase framed by a suspended stone curtain. It serves as a transitional space between the square and the gallery, linking them and encouraging communication.
For the local residents, the project is an invitation to live outdoors and to identify with the place. It's a challenge to embrace the gallery as the heart of the new cultural quarter of Middlesbrough.

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(EEA) Erick van Egeraat founded his office in 1995 in Rotterdam and now employs 120 specialists in London, Budapest, Prague, and Moscow. Throughout his 25-year career, he has been involved in the realization of more than 100 projects.
EEA envisions the realization of world-class architecture and urbanism on a large scale, which provides economic, social, and cultural value to the place. The office is currently working on about forty projects across Europe, leaning towards Central and Eastern Europe and Russia.
Completed projects include: ING Headquarters in Budapest /HU/, Royal Netherlands Embassy in Warsaw /PL/, MIMA Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art /UK/, Metzo College Doetinchem (NL), Faculty of Biomedicine at the University of Utrecht (NL), and the Town Hall in Alphen aan den Rijn (NL).
Ongoing projects by EEA: Masterplan for the city of Canning (UK), Masterplan for Oosterdoks Island in Amsterdam (NL), Masterplan for Milanofiori in Milan (IT), two buildings for HafenCity in Hamburg (DE), Vershina shopping and entertainment center in Surgut (RU), Mahler4 high-rise office building in Amsterdam (NL), and many more.