IT COULD be a new icon for Hull – a huge "mirror ball" housing facilities including a national museum of club culture.
The duo behind the scheme – Mark Wigan and Kerry Baldry – are now developing plans for the spherical building, which they hope could be sited in Hull's fruit market.
They were inspired to develop the plans after buying a mirror ball at Walton Street car boot sale.
"There are quite a lot of vacant spaces around the area where we can see potential for it," said Mark, who, along with Kerry, is the co-artistic director of the Museum Of Club Culture, in Humber Street.
"It could have a role as a beacon overlooking the Humber, in the way that The Deep does."
"The technology now exists to construct such buildings – there is a large spherical building planned for the Qatar World Cup – and it would be a landmark for the city. It would attract thousands of visitors."
The sphere will be designed around a central vertical axis, which will allow it to slowly rotate and reflect light.
At night, the intention is for the building to glow with video and animated images projected from inside.
The aim is for the building to house the National Museum of Club Culture and the World DJ Hall of Fame – a collection of images and information about stars such as Boy George.
Elsewhere inside would be a retro café, a merchandise shop, a cinema and an international Graphic Arts School for music, fashion and nightclub related art and design.
The building would also be home to a cluster of multi-media themed exhibitions connected to club cultures and sub cultures from all over the world.
Mark's intention is for the building to become a site for major shows chronicling and celebrating the work of innovative musicians such as Bjork, Grace Jones, Madonna and Brian Eno.
"We had been talking about extending our building as we have ambitions for some large scale exhibitions – artists like Bjork, who we have worked with before in Iceland, when we put on her band, The Sugarcubes," he said.
"But we have ideas for projects which we could not do where we are at the moment."
Mark, a former Hull art student, is now a lecturer at Hull School of Art and Design.
He says he has experience of large scale projects through his years in Japan, where his work included art directing commercials, and designing sets for television programmes.
Since establishing the Museum of Club Culture in 2010 – hailed as the first venture of its type in the world – Mark and Kerry, an artist and curator, have staged a series of exhibitions relating to clubbing and underground culture.
Other projects have included creating an oral history of clubbing in Hull, by recording memories of local people.
As the city prepares its bid for the UK City of Culture 2017, the duo say the proposals provides a different slant on traditional ideas of culture.
"We do not want it to be just about nostalgia – we want it to flag up the significance of this culture and how important clubbing is to people in their leisure time," said Mark.
"This is culture that comes up from below, as opposed to culture that comes from above in terms of theatre or art galleries. It is highlighting the significance of Hull's working class culture."
Mark and Kerry have submitted research and development plans to the Heritage Lottery Fund, with hopes to attract private investment in the building.
"I know that the economic climate is not great but it is important that we show the ambition for these type of projects," said Mark.
Now working with architecture students at Hull College's School of Art And Design to develop the design, Mark says it could prove a draw similar to the National Football Museum in Manchester.
"We started the museum – the only one of its type – in 2010, and since then there have been a lot of exhibitions elsewhere that have tapped into similar themes," said Mark.
"You have galleries exhibiting pop videos and the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A.
"A lot of galleries are realising these types of shows are real crowd pullers."
