St Augustine’s Abbey Museum

The building was commissioned by English Heritage to help describe the history of the World Heritage Site, and to double as a gatehouse to allow better access to the abbey’s ruins. It takes the form of a light-weight structure leaning against a powerful buttressed wall which fills a gap between existing Mediaeval precinct walls. The brick wall and museum building are structurally independent to allow for the potential removal of the building, while keeping the wall to preserve a sense of order to the site. We were mindful of setting a precedent for future English Heritage policy for new buildings, and subsequently were asked to work on its east of England headquarters at Brooklands.