The Public, West Bromwich

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The Public Building

The Public, viewed from the north

View from the north west

View from the north east

The Public (rendered with StudlyCaps as THEpUBLIC on its logo) is a community arts organisation based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, and also a large modern building constructed in West Bromwich and intended to accommodate the group.

1 Arts organisation
2 Building
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Arts organisation

The Public was founded in 1974 as Jubilee Arts by Sylvia King, and works with various community art groups on creative projects.

[edit] Building

There were a variety of plans and visualisations for the project, most notably from architect Will Alsop around the year 2000, which proposed a glass box on stilts, forming a public square below - in which wheeled pods would "dock" with the base at night, while taking arts projects out into local communities during the day. Such ambitious proposals where later turned into a more conventional building.

Construction commenced in 2004 on a modern building designed to house The Public, which is known by the same name. Built on the site of a former bus station,^[1] the building is located in the town centre of West Bromwich, between the ring road and the Queens Square shopping centre. Originally known as c/Plex, the scheme was intended to house almost 100,000 square feet of galleries, studios and exhibition spaces, along with a restaurant and cafe.

Budgeted at approximately £32 million, including one of the largest Lottery awards for a capital project by Arts Council England, the development was designed by the architect Will Alsop, and cost approximately £52 million. Comprising a massive oblong building constructed in dark grey and silver metal cladding with irregularly-shaped windows edged in magenta, its appearance has drawn comparisons with a fish tank^[2] or a municipal swimming baths.

The development has been highly controversial and has beset by financial difficulties, going into administration before the expected opening date of July 2006,^[3] due to the withholding of a final tranche of £2 million that was due to be contributed by Sandwell Council. Further controversy surrounds plans by The Public Gallery Limited, to introduce a regular entry fee of £6.95^[4]. The building is now set to open in June 2008.