Testone Factory
Testone Factory is a stage for the possibility of ideas. A new space of invention and production for the communications agency Peter & Paul. Located in Kelham Island Sheffield, one of the oldest industrial sites in the city.
“We believe culture is intrinsically linked to communication; communication shapes culture and culture shapes communication” – Peter & Paul
Testone Factory uses an excess of flexibility to create an excess of possibility. Its architecture is structured to facilitate open collaboration – it believes that all invention starts with dialogue. All ideas commence at the interface between things. Where interaction is encouraged, where the intersection of many approaches can extend the possibility of an idea.
Testone Factory is a stage for the possibility of ideas. A new space of invention and production for the communications agency Peter & Paul. Located in Kelham Island Sheffield, one of the oldest industrial sites in the city.
Kelham is in transition. From factories that transformed raw materials into products that supplied the world. Fine cutlery to high precision weapons. Its media was the red hot glow of the crucible glimpsed through factory doors. The media of the modern factory is the glow of the LED screen and the invisible network of fiber that carries data instantaneously around the world.
Testone Factory sits between the historic River Don and the spaces of transition that are driving Sheffield’s innovation economy. In 1801 Sheffield’s population was 60, 100, by 1901 it had increased to 451, 200 this growth was driven by innovation and experiment.
Testone Factory continues the tradition of innovation and experiment. 50% of the space isun-programmed, flexible and open - a constant opportunity to invent, experiment and test. An open space that is organized to facilitate dialogue.
400m2 with a central flexible room. 20 meters long by 12 meters wide and 4 meters high. Connected to the city at both ends through full height glazed windows. The factory is composed of strata - a flexible foyer, a project-output space, a studio and a library island with terrace beyond that cantilevers over the River Don.
The Space of Ideas.
The organization of the factory separates ideas and production. At its center is a space for speculations. Those ideas that are unsure, half formed, vague possibilities. Innovative business is built on levitating those uncertain moments – sensing out those that may evolve. Suspending doubt until they are tested a bit further. Testone Factory is a laboratory for these ideas. A place in which experiment and possibility is taken seriously.
The Flexible Foyer.
50% of the factory is left un-programmed. An open space that adjoins the public square to the south. A space that can host a video production, an exhibition, a talk or allow a layout for a book to be spread across a floor. The possibility of change encourages speculation. Providing flexible space gives opportunity to the creative process – a place to accommodate creative work and play – the possibility to test, collaborate, host, share, invite, or just experiment.
Serviced Sides.
Two wings line the flexible center and contain all the serviced space. The wings support the Factory of Ideas. The west wing includes a micro galley (that can be accessed from the street) meeting rooms, kitchen and plant spaces. The east contains smaller offices that can be rented. 30% of the plan is given over to spaces that can be rented by creative companies that can collaborate with Peter & Paul.
Collaboration.
The east wing contains a number of micro office spaces that can be rented. These companies have access to the open space of the factory and the micro gallery. Currently they are occupied by a film maker, a design company and a photographer. A large corridor separates the micro offices from the factory. Its scale and location acts as an interface, a space in which casual conversations inform a project. This structure allows creative collaborations and commercial sustainability. The small company shares the infrastructure of a large office but pays for a small space. Testone has a group of small organizations in house that can work on new projects and inform the dialogue. They also contribute to making the office commercially sustainable. This is a relationship that allows an engagement between the creative and commercial. It resists a silo attitude – it allows sharing to be a creative and a commercial benefit to owner and tenant.
Micro Gallery.
Adjoining the south square is a publicly accessible micro gallery. The gallery is composed of a display cabinet that is designed to show a range of curated objects and a projection wall that can display the work of P&P and invited creatives from the Sheffield area. The gallery seeks to bring a public to Kelham and host an emerging generation of creatives. Peter & Paul facilitates an on-ongoing dialogue with new creatives while giving them an opportunity to connect with a public.
A Factory of Light.
The space between the serviced wings and the central factory is formed by deep polycarbonate walls. A back lit box, allowing both daylight and LED light to animate its surfaces through the day. It becomes a register of the activities in the serviced spaces and the sunlight around the site. Supported by a raw timber frame, the walls separate the world of thinking from the world of making.
The Team.
The production of the Testone Factory is a collaboration between Testone, Peter & Paul, Noiascape and Teatum + Teatum Architects. Testone develop content, P&P deliver communication strategies. Noiascape develop spatial and commercial strategies and Teatum + Teatum design and deliver architecture. The team was brought together to allow a dialogue between communication, spatial and commercial strategies. The process allowed multiple objectives to be synthesized through commercial and creative dialogue. Noiascape developed commercial strategies that could be organized spatially to allow P&P to be cost neutral. This allowed P&P to be commercially sustainable while also investing in growth through experiment and collaborations.
