A new art studio commissioned by College Farm Arts, a small art school based in Rural Hampshire, England. Completed in 2021.
The college had outgrown its previous small studio on the farm and was looking for help to design some bigger studio paces within an existing mass stock shed barn on the farm.
The design strategy is a box-within-a-box. The existing agricultural barn was maintained as the weather skin and an insulated space was created inside this. The studios are located on the North gable of the barn, which was entirely opened for glazing in order to avail of a consistent north light for painting and directional light which is especially useful for life drawing with defined shadows.
Structurally, a new timber stud and truss system was proposed internally to span the 10m single volume as the existing steel structure was assessed to be unable to carry any additional load. The trusses were constructed off-site and lifted into place, with insulation to the outside of this frame in order to allow the structure to be celebrated and legible from the inside.
The result is an airy single volume with an exciting roof-space all painted white for the diffusion of light.
