My friend Ken Taylor, who has died of cancer aged 61, had a passion for culture in its broadest sense and, although he trained and practised as an architect, he contributed equally meaningfully as an artist and curator.
The completion of Quay House, a joint development with his wife, Julia Manheim, in 2002, marked them out as a pioneering force in the burgeoning cultural regeneration of Peckham, south London. What was originally a redundant milk depot at 2c King’s Grove was transformed over a four-year construction programme into a flexible live/work studio with three bespoke apartments and the m² Gallery. The gallery was conceived as a vitrine measuring 1 metre square and could be viewed 24 hours a day by anyone who happened to be passing by.
This notion of “giving something back to the street” was fuelled by a commitment to collaborative social arts projects which in turn led to Ken’s appointment as a trustee and chair of Artpoint (a visual arts and crafts agency based in Oxford).
