Dovecote Studio by Haworth Tompkins

Inhabits the ruins of a dovecote overlooking the marshes, as a part of the campus extension project by London-based studio Haworth Tompkins, the Dovecote is an artists studio created with corten steel skin and wood interiors.

A large light roof window contrast with a small mezzanine platform with a writing desk can be used by artists as a residence, rehearsal, or performance space, or as a temporary exhibition space.

Architects: Haworth Tompkins
Location: Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk, England
Photography: Philip Vile

The new form expresses the internal volume of the Victorian structure as a Cor-ten steel ‘lining’, a welded monocoque that was prefabricated and craned into position.

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.