The Foundry

Breathing new life into and realising the potential beauty of dilapidated 19th-century industrial buildings, this project, through innovation, made possible the retention of fragile original brickwork beneficial in conservation and sustainability terms. Adaptive re-use of the historic buildings presented an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of retention over demolition in terms of life-cycle performance. All new interventions, the roof, the large areas of glazing and the new ground floor slab, achieve high thermal insulation values. The orientation of fenestration is designed to maximise beneficial solar gain, while north-facing, openable skylights provide natural light and ventilation during the working day. With underfloor heating, the building is designed for conversion to heat pump supply when planning regulations permit. Horizontal thrust from collapsing roof trusses had given an alarming lean to the external walls of the main building. Reducing the roof loading on these walls and ensuring only vertical downforces was achieved through an innovative structural solution. Deep steel trusses were installed spanning the 25m length of the building. From this primary structure, secondary steel beams span to support the new zinc roof. Hingeing on the fixings at the truss end, the secondary beams transmit only vertical loads on to the fragile brick walls. The new roof is a defining feature. A saw-tooth profile central section sits within the primary structure while retaining the 15m-tall chimney and much of the historic fabric ensured that the past remains present. The replacement roof form references the building’s industrial past, yet gives it a distinctive contemporary feature for the future. The Foundry creates a new home for our practice with spaces designed for hosting cultural events. For this it was necessary to increase the available floor space by introducing a mezzanine level. Although some 5m tall, the existing workshop space was not sufficient in height to allow well-proportioned spaces on two floors. This was achieved through excavation and underpinning to go down and a small height increase to go up, negotiated successfully with neighbours and planners. Entry to the studio offers a palpable tranquillity in dramatic contrast to the noisy road outside. The 15m entrance gallery is flanked by a brick-paved courtyard garden with floor-to-ceiling glass doors. An in-situ cast concrete stair leads up to the studio on the mezzanine level, with a slatted maple ceiling and purpose-made furniture designed by the practice and fabricated on site. Large windows give views into the two courtyards and over neighbouring roofs. A half-level below the gallery is the Project Room, a flexible space for assembling and making presentations, and hosting events. From here a large meeting room is reached; a spectacular double-height space containing the foundry chimney with a 6m-high window to the second courtyard garden. The palette of materials including natural timber, in-situ cast concrete, precast concrete and exposed structural steel is beautifully integrated with the sandblasted restored brickwork. The juxtaposition of these materials illuminated from a variety of natural-light sources creates a poetic contemporary design aesthetic in perfect harmony with the historic structure of The Foundry.