St Michael Cloister Garden

“in the practice’s work there is recurring evidence that they know about how their buildings will be used, how they will be lived in and how they will change”

Charles Rattray – architectural critic and journalist

 

St.Michaels Church is a large and powerful building. The new accommodation is an assembly of buildings grouped around a courtyard. This performs a compositional role but it also symbolises the new openness and accessibility of the church. The rather forbidding exterior of the existing victorian church is included as an enclosing edge of a new exterior space which is welcoming to the public. In urban terms the scheme has created a new kind of outdoor space for the community. Although it is easily accessed off a public footpath it is nonetheless defined and relatively enclosed. It will serve as a meeting space for receptions, church functions and for nursery school use. Like a cloister it will serve too as a means of access, with a covered route connecting the buildings around it.

Location: Barnes, London
Status: Completed 2011

 

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