For the artist duo Spacecowboys — Albert Dedden and Paul Keizer — Studio Groen+Schild designed a new workshop on the grounds of De Gasfabriek in Deventer. For more than twenty years, the Spacecowboys have been creating monumental sculptures for the public realm: works that provide orientation, evoke stories, and strengthen the identity of a place. Their art reflects not only themselves, but also the environment in which it stands.

This openness and visibility also form the core of the design for their new studio. The transparent workshop makes the creative process visible: what happens inside can be followed from the outside. Encounters, curiosity, and exchange thus naturally become part of everyday practice.

The building is based on a lightweight steel structure with insulated panels, typical of industrial buildings. This black box is enclosed by a wooden shell that gives the building its character — pure and robust — and refers to traditional American wooden barns.

On the ground floor are the double-height “dirty” workshop, with a large overhead door for transporting sculptures, and the “clean” studio. The first floor houses a studio space that can also be used by others, while above it the most spectacular place has been created: a covered outdoor space with magnificent views over the floodplains and the River IJssel.

Built with natural materials and industrial simplicity, the building breathes the pioneering spirit of the Spacecowboys: adventurous, functional, and idiosyncratic — a workshop as a statement: open, autonomous, and full of creative energy.

Renders and model: Studio Groen+Schild

Projectteam Studio Groen+Schild:
Ellen Schild, Arnold de Bruin, Maarten Tenten, Elise Brouwer