Hudson Architects has transformed a heritage-listed building in eastern England into an architecture school, featuring a staircase that references an ornately patterned original balustrade.
The new Norwich University of the Arts School of Architecture is contained in a Grade-II listed Victorian building, which was originally built by local architect Edward Boardman as a sunday school in 1879.
Hudson Architecture – whose past projects include a zinc-clad worship hall for the Salvation Army and a reed-covered camera obscura for a contemporary arts festival – oversaw the entire £3.5 million refurbishment.
The teaching spaces are organised around a double-height atrium encircled by a gallery.
This bright central space, with its vaulted ceiling, inspired contemporary additions that reference its historical details, including circular candelabra-like suspended light fittings and the sculptural staircase.
楼梯在建筑的两层之间提供了方便的中心连接工作,与走廊的装饰栏杆交叉。
它错综复杂的蚀刻表面使用水射流切割,辅以橡木实木踏板和弯曲的木扶手。
The staircase provides a convenient central connection between the building's two upper levels and intersects with the gallery's ornamental balustrade.
Its intricately etched surfaces, which were cut using a water jet, are complemented by solid oak treads and a curving wooden handrail.
"It was already quite an interesting building with a large atrium space that we wanted to keep for the school of architecture," architect Russell Canham told Dezeen.
"The main intervention in the atrium is a simple steel stair with a water jet-cut balustrade that picks up on existing 19th-century cast iron detailing and copies it in spirit, but not in direct application."
对于学校的新建筑项目,该建筑还可为媒体学院容纳设施。
设计工作室位于第一层和第二层的中央画廊周围,电影工作室和图形设施被安置在地下室。
As well as the school's new architecture programme, the building also accommodates facilities for the media faculty.
Design studios are located around the central gallery on the first and second floors, while the film studio and graphics facilities are housed in the basement.
“我们想真正地让这个建筑影响到学校的运作方式,让所有的学生都相互可见,”Canham解释说。
“我们也想采用最小化的干预措施,用一种新的建筑方式让该建筑运行,把它带入21世纪。”
"We wanted to really make the building influence how the school works, with all the students being quite visible to each other," Canham explained.
"We also wanted to use minimum interventions in the way of new structures to make the building work and also bring it into the 21st century."
For the past couple of decades the building had been used as offices, but was largely in a good condition. The Neoclassical facades are preserved and new triple-insulated glazing was added to the skylights above the central hall.
Other preserved details include part of an original staircase above the new main entrance, which projects over the stairs down to the basement to reinforce the notion of this space's original purpose as a circulation area.
The staircase had become redundant during previous renovations and was partly dismantled to make room for a lift shaft. Its presence, combined with an adjacent glass ceiling, helps to evoke the original space's sense of height.
A gallery next to the entrance can be used to present students' work, while a set of pivoting display boards slotted beneath the circular staircase in the main hall provides space for pinning up presentations.
On the top floor, a space that originally housed the building's organ is converted into a lecture room enclosed behind a switchable glazed wall that retains the original visual link with the rest of the interior.
如果房间被用于需要隐私的报告或演讲,玻璃可以从透明切换到镜像,这反映了其周边环境,也隐藏了内部。
摄影:Joakim Boren
If the room is being used for a lecture or presentation that requires privacy, the glass can be switched from a transparent to a mirrored finish, which reflects its surroundings and conceals the interior.
Photography is by Joakim Boren.
Site plan/场地平面图
Proposed lower ground floor plan/较低层平面图
Proposed upper ground floor plan/较高层平面图
Proposed first floor plan/二层平面图
Section one/剖面图 1
Section two/剖面图 2
项目信息
建筑事务所:Hudson Architects
客户:Norwich University of the Arts
主承包商:Balfour Beatty
结构工程师:Rossi Long Consulting
M&E:Mott MacDonald
建筑估价师:Aecom
Project credits:
Architect: Hudson Architects
Client: Norwich University of the Arts
Main contractor: Balfour Beatty
Structural engineer: Rossi Long Consulting
M&E: Mott MacDonald
Quantity surveyor: Aecom