Tou
Scene (Stavanger, Norway) recently entered a new stage in its long-term developing process.
On March 11, the city council of Stavanger passed the proposed
development plans and said OK to starting detailed planning of the first
stages of the renovation and building process.
Since the city
council last year bought the old brewery from the private owner, Tou
Scene not only got a new landlord but also got involved in a developing
plan for the more than 12.000 square meters of spaces. The so-called
"New Tou" will be more than five times larger than Tou Scene as we know
it now.
The upper aisle of the center, which now is mostly empty,
will contain 33 studios for visual artists, 20 rehearsal spaces for
bands, several project rooms and a guest house. In a plan called the
"Tou Vision", Tou Scene has proposed new public areas: a visual arts
space in the beer halls, a new black box stage with a lounge suited for
live music, and a space for children's artistic activities.
The
costs estimated for the whole building project is NOK 300 million (37
mill. EUR). The politicians kept all the proposed elements in the
further planning, but asked the costs reduced and announced that the
timespan for the complete project might be as much as 10-12 years.
Start of the first phase could be 2011 or 2012. The State and County
also are expected to be financial partners.
The "Tou Visjonen", a
36-page pdf document, can be downloaded from
touscene.com website.