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The Art Workers’ Guild, Bloomsbury, London
The Client
The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 to promote the unity of all the arts. Its founding members were British architects who associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement.
The guilds' meeting hall is a Grade II listed, early-Georgian (built in 1713) building in Bloomsbury, London.
The Brief
Phase 1 of this project saw the expansion of an existing courtyard space between the main meeting hall and rear hall.
Phase 2 saw a structural cast iron and glass roof installed, including a series of fused glass louvres created by Daedalian Glass Studios, to convert the courtyard into an all-weather break out space.
What we did
“A thoughtful and well considered conservation-based scheme which seeks to sensitively adapt or enhance the existing building to improve access and the function of the institution. The scheme serves to preserve the historic fabric of the building as much as possible. As such it is considered that the scheme would preserve the historic interest of the building and also serve to preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area”
(Conservation Officers Report)
Daedalian Glass Studios collaborated with Simon Hurst, Director of SCHD Ltd and Honorary Architect to the Art Workers' Guild, to create a set of 35 fused soda glass louvres for the new courtyard roof, and a further 3 as spare parts. Each louvre was created from 8 layers of 3mm thick soda glass fused together.
“Now completed, the courtyard will serve a more useful purpose than simply a passage between the front and the back of the building. It is an ideal space in which to display small-scale sculpture and models, allowing the Guild to provide additional free exhibition and demonstration space to our members, an essential aspect of the support the Guild provides.”
(Catherine O’Keeffe, Guild Secretary)
Project details
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