© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.

Situated on a prominent but neglected site in Reading town centre, this project carefully reconfigures and extends an existing ensemble of historic buildings to create a mixed-use development and the continuation of a network of inter-connecting public spaces and passages. The shop fronts of a retail arcade unfold from the street edge, through a historic passageway, and culminate in a new courtyard. This courtyard is where the layering of activities, and the relationship between new and old are made apparent. A restaurant, bar and hotel rooms on the upper floors surrounding the courtyard have an awareness of each other, as well as the sky above, and the arcade below. The new extension is a contemporary reinterpretation of an historic timber frame building. A masonry rear wall and lift shaft provide a spine for the extension in the same way that a chimney would have done historically. Around this spine a timber frame, consisting of vertical posts and suspended timber floors, forms the structure of the building and is given expression across the facade.

© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.

© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.

© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.

© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.

© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.

© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.

© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.

© Stephen Taylor Architects . Pubblicata il 10 Settembre 2009.