London architects Haworth Tompkins have inserted a Corten steel artist’s studio into a ruined Victorian dovecote in Suffolk, UK.
Called The Dovecote Studio, the structure has a pitched rood and occupies the same space as the original building’s interior.
A skylight in the north side of the roof illuminates the plywood interior, which includes a mezzanine with a desk and corner window overlooking marshes towards the sea.
The steel was welded together to form a watertight box, constructed on-site and lifted into the brick shell by a crane.
Here is some more information from the architects:
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The Dovecote Studio
The Dovecote Studio forms part of the internationally renowned music campus at Snape Maltings, founded by Benjamin Britten in derelict industrial buildings on the Suffolk coast.
Britten was inspired by the almost abstract landscape of the reedbeds at the boundary between the land and the sea: the ruins of a nineteenth century dovecote sit directly on this boundary, looking out across the marshes.
The Dovecote Studio inhabits the ruins and expresses the internal volume of the Victorian structure as a Cor-ten steel ‘lining’, a monocoque welded structure that was built next to the ruin and craned in when complete.
Above: the ruined dovecote before the project began
The building is fully welded in a single piece, like the hull of a ship, to achieve weather tightness, and then fitted with a simple plywood inner lining.
Above: inserting the new Corten structure by crane
A large north light roof window provides even light for artists, while a small mezzanine platform with a writing desk incorporates a fully opening glazed corner window that gives long views over the marshes towards the sea.
Click here for larger image.
The single volume will be used by artists in residence (it can operate as a simple bedsitting room with a compact kitchen), by musicians as rehearsal or performance space (there is a large opening door to an adjoining courtyard), by staff for meetings or as a temporary exhibition space.
Click here for larger image.
Only the minimum necessary brickwork repairs were carried out to stabilize the existing ruin prior to the new structure being inserted.
Click here for larger image.
Decaying existing windows were left alone and vegetation growing over the dovecot was protected to allow it to continue a natural process of ageing and decay.
Click here for larger image.
Prior to the Cor-ten structure being inserted, a new drainage channel was cast to falls at base level to ensure that water running down between the old and the new structures is channelled to accessible drainage points at the door thresholds. The interior walls and ceiling of the space are insulated, sealed with a high-performance vapour control layer, and lined with spruce plywood to create a timber ‘box’ within the Cor-ten shell. Laminated plywood sheets also form the stairs, balustrade and mezzanine structure.
Click here for larger image.
Name: The Dovecote Studio
Address: Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk
Start on Site: January 2009
Date of Completion: August 2009
Gross External Floor Area: 30 sqm
Architect: Haworth Tompkins
Client: Aldeburgh Music
Main Contractor: Elliston Steady and Hawes (Building) Ltd
Structural Engineer:Price and Myers LLP
Environmental Engineer: Ernest Griffiths
CDM Coordinator: PFB Construction Management Services Limited
February 14th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
so sexy
February 14th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Neat
February 14th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
love it. love how the ruins are untouched and are allowed to keep on aging. looks like the old brick skin is peeling off to give new life to the corten building. great character.
February 14th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I love this so much. I’ve seen it on 3 different sites. I had to stop and dream about it each time. I wish I owned it… parked in the middle of a wheat field in Northern Idaho USA. I would dig a tunnel to it, add a couple more windows and leave only to get more scotch.
Great job people !
February 15th, 2010 at 12:04 am
simple but elegant..
February 15th, 2010 at 1:00 am
Great inspiration and use of old building for a new facad.
February 15th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Exquisite.
February 15th, 2010 at 3:18 am
beautiful
February 15th, 2010 at 4:54 am
nice contrast…
February 15th, 2010 at 5:33 am
The plywood is so disappointing.
February 15th, 2010 at 7:14 am
love it ^_^
February 15th, 2010 at 7:51 am
this house is the best definition of retrofitting, inserting the newinto the old
February 15th, 2010 at 7:52 am
Very beautifull and sensitive project. A good interpretation to the past.
February 15th, 2010 at 8:05 am
somehow reminds me of this:
http://www.fnp-architekten.de/projekte/swe/pro01.html
but a nice one anyway, seems to fit into context
February 15th, 2010 at 8:47 am
brilliant!
February 15th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Amazing colours.. And I love how the scale of the building seems to change according to which angle you look at it (roof light makes it almost appear as a 3 storey construction). Fabulous.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Bravo pour l’esthétique qui concilie tradition et modernité, intérieur et extérieur….
February 15th, 2010 at 10:25 am
this is really cute project
February 15th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Love this! Although I have to admit I would want for a larger space. Saying this though, it is still a lot larger than my current studio. But If I was to go to the trouble and expense I would go for a little more floor space.
February 15th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
very nice sudio. congratulations !!!
February 15th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Easy to read! Bravi!
February 15th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
kinda reminds me of this http://www.nissenadams.co.uk/archive/art_and_leisure/elephant/
February 15th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Proposal respectful and modern, in this case, simplicity is synonymous with quality.
February 15th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Great stuff, but I think there was a project in AR a few years ago, very similar for an old pig stye. I preferred that one, as this one fails a bit where you have the corteen on the outside and plywood on the inside. The same material throughout would have been great.
February 15th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Phil,
it is the same site. Looking carefully on the photo you can see it is the same ruin. Think the Nissan Adams job was a temporary one, but weird another architect gets to do the permanent structure, when they look so much alike.
February 15th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Here is a link to the very similar pigstye project:
http://thistinyhouse.com/2009/house-within-a-house/
February 15th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
One wishes ones`s garden shed looked the same.
February 16th, 2010 at 6:04 am
This reminds me of 2 other projects:
1) Caixa Forum in Madrid by Herzog & de Meuron http://www.arcspace.com/architects/herzog_meuron/caixa/caixa.html
2) Kolumba Museum in Cologne by Peter Zumthor http://www.eikongraphia.com/?p=2553
what do you think?
February 16th, 2010 at 10:08 am
perfect example of combining old and new
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:55 am
so fantastic! so simple. polite. perfect piece of architecture. There should be a lot more like this- architecture that doesn’t impose on previous architectural propositions. lovely