Artist Studios, Aberystwyth

About

With the purpose of offering an incentive for creative people and keeping students from moving to cities like London or Birmingham, the Royal Institute of British Architects, on behalf of the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, called a competition to build eighteen affordable workspaces. Rather than one big building, the studio decided to make nine smaller ones, connected by a footpath and arranged in a curve, which would cost less and reduce the impact on the landscape. The buildings, each divided into two independent workspaces, are simple, pitch-roofed, timber-framed structures that have been split down the middle and pulled apart to make space for a skylight. The cladding had to be durable as well as affordable and suggestive, so the studio chose an innovative solution developed ex profeso, and wrapped the building with stainless steel sheets, very thin so that they would be much cheaper and made to deform. This apparent defect was taken as a virtue, creating a crinkled surface resembling aluminum foil, reinforced with sprayed insulating foam. The result is a texturized envelope that blends with its environment as the tree leaves and the sky create a play of reflections.

Sources

• Arquitectura Viva