The Haworth Tompkins architecture firm in London was founded in 1991. Their work includes projects for schools, galleries, theaters and concert halls. They state that their buildings are “influenced by the specific chemistry of individual places and cultural situations.”
One such project was completed in August 2009 on the campus of Snape Maltings, an art and music institution inside old derelict industrial buildings on the Suffolk coast in the UK. The firm began with the crumbling ruins of a brick dovecote overlooking the marshes. Their client, Aldeburgh Music, hired the firm to turn this structure into a studio for artists in residence. It includes a writing desk overlooking the marshes, a practice space for musicians and can also be used as an exhibition space. A cor-ten steel volume was inserted inside the existing brick structure via a crane.
Haworth Tompkins states of the project:
“Only the minimum necessary brickwork repairs were carried out to stabilise the existing ruin prior to the new structure being inserted. Decaying existing windows were left alone and vegetation growing over the dovecote was protected to allow it to continue a natural process of ageing and decay. The interior walls and ceiling of the space are lined with spruce plywood to create a timber ‘box’ within the Cor-ten shell.”
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Photographs by Philip Vile.
Two pleasant structures combined into an awkward mess.