Roche Court - Artists' House

The success of the art gallery allowed the New Art Centre to build a small artists house on site in 2001.  The inspiration for this development was Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge.  The initial aim for the house was for artists to have somewhere to stay if they were visiting or exhibiting.  However, it I now used more as an educational and exhibition space rather than a living space.  The house was designed to be flexible with hidden functions including the kitchen sinks and hobs.

The layout of the artists’ house was designed for the main living space to be upstairs on the first floor and the sleeping space and bathroom on the ground.  This allows for the living space to have more light through the large area of glazing and roof light.  The large bank outside the building was moved a few metres back to also allow for more light.  The furniture inside the house was specially designed for the space by a range of students as well as furniture designers.  Everything in the house is flush and minimal including the seamless glass.

Roche Court - Gallery

As a studio we visited Roche Court in Wiltshire, a working farm with 60 acres of land dedicated to sculptural works of art.  The New Art Centre was founded in 1958 in Sloane Square until 1994 when it was relocated to Wiltshire.  The centre has 4 to 5 exhibitions a year.  The house on the farm was built in 1804 and is still a private home.  There is also a gallery on site, which has won 6 architectural awards including the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize for best small building.  It was designed by Stephen Marshall for more vulnerable works and paintings that could not be exhibited outside.

One of the special design features of the gallery is the curtain wall glazing that doesn’t meet.  This allows for the art-work to breathe creating the correct temperature and humidity inside the exhibition space.  The concrete floor in the gallery is stepped giving the illusion of 1 large space or 3 separate smaller spaces.  There is a large overhang on the front of the building, which mimics the overhang of the roof on the 1804 manor house.  The vertical timber doors mimic the columns on the orangey to which it is attached.  Due to the large glass frontage the gallery doesn’t feel separate from the park therefore the artists like using it.  The back wall in the gallery is also naturally lit from a glass panel in the roof.  This allows art works on the walls to be viewed from the gardens, minimising reflections from the glass.

Area of Interest

One of my main interests is the Great Fire of London in 1666.  The idea that there is a lost society and town in ashes under modern London fascinates me.  I would like to study the changes in society in London before and after the Great Fire, the change in London’s aesthetic and the role of the Thames.  Another major event in history, which led to large fires in London was the Blitz during World War 2.  This also had some similar effects, which I would like to explore too.

Studio Brief

The Diploma 2 Architecture, Culture and Identity Studio at the University of Portsmouth parallels Art school education in terms of its freedom of choice, of study and expression.  We are encouraged to investigate a subject of personal interest and develop it into a tailored thesis design.  The ACI studio links theory and design by examining architecture via an understanding of the intellectual contexts through British cultural heritage via literature, film, art and design.

The realm of study is thereby developed as a thesis proposition in both theoretical and physical contexts – British culture and Thames site.  The studio aims to compile a series of narratives about London and the Thames to emphasise the richness of cultural study and its relevance to the creation of modern architecture with deep-rooted resonance to contemporary society.