Turner Centre high on the Agenda

Agenda Design is to paint the brand strategy for Margate’s £20m Turner Centre, a visual arts gallery planned for the town’s seafront and the mainstay of culturally-led regeneration in the area.

The brief is expected to involve a full audit of the scope of the brand, including naming, as well as identity work and signage, literature and on-line applications.

The ambitious project, devised by Kent County Council, has prompted both national interest and local debate for its attempt to transplant ‘the Gehry effect’ – so-called because of the success of architect Frank Gehry’s Bilbao Guggenheim Museum – to Margate’s Grade II-listed stone pier.

Anglo-Norwegian architect Snohetta and Spence won the commission in October 2001 to create the landmark building (pictured) and its sculptural design has been likened to a giant sail. Work is scheduled to begin on site in September, with the museum opening to the public in 2007.

Despite playing up artist JMW Turner’s links with Margate, the gallery will ‘predominantly’ promote contemporary art and education outreach, says a Turner Centre spokeswoman.

Communicating this vision will be the main challenge of the brief, says Agenda managing director Paul Davis.