CREATIVE ARTS BUILDING, CITY COLLEGE NORWICH BDP

摘要

Are buildings that are clad in one material often the most successful? In the case of the Creative Arts Building at City College Norwich, black timber has been predominately used to clad both the main elevation and roof plane. We wanted to use a material that was common to the region and would be a suitable ingredient to mix with the craft, art and drama activities. An element of Norfolk and Suffolk traditional building is suggested, although a new contemporary language is achieved. A black timber-clad 'big house for the arts'set on the edge of a tree-lined, south-facing garden forms a green veil backdrop. Some users at the college have speculated that with the black timber, a black building has created a 'gothic fantasy barn. The north-facing front wall of the scheme is cranked and the timber details 'twist' along smooth 'cuts' as the cladding zig-zags across its frontage.