The first proper project after Moonshine when we formed Mitchell Taylor Workshop. I needed to get Moonshine out of my system, and it was a great collaboration between me, Kris Eley and Jennifer Lorrimar. To a certain extent I was influenced by Lynch’s Marsh House which I love, but it also was a very direct response to the very gritty urban context in which it sat, and the social program that gave rise to it. The head teacher, Brian Hall and governor Warwick Black were fantastic in having the confidence in us to do it. It won a RIBA Award in 2007, and a regional sustainability award. I still really love this cute little building…
A couple of articles below:
Architect’s Journal: 2007 11 22 AJ
The context for this building was, at the time, really extreme. It was before Symes Avenue had been redeveloped (see below 1) and was like a Beirut war zone. We had to find a way to construct a building in this context that was very secure, yet not covered in razor wire as the library below (2).
I remember also being incredibly influenced by Caruso St John’s Brick House – not necessarily the rather archi-fetishitic interior, but the roof that was (from memory) on the cover of the AR with the insulation boards visible through the room membrane, and it felt such a relief to see a project that was beautifully made yet from such a different place from the pious Zumthor-esque school.
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