Information about this scheme

The scheme provides much-needed learning facilities for the Roman Baths in combination with a free-to-access World Heritage Centre where visitors are guided to discover the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the city of Bath. The project is set at the heart of the World Heritage Site, re-using and repairing a group of listed former industrial buildings and negotiating new access and activities through a Scheduled Monument containing important Roman archaeology. It unlocks access to more of the site’s heritage to more people, allowing them to participate in new ways. A new Clore Learning Centre and World Heritage Visitor Centre has been provided by unlocking historic spaces by navigating changes in level between three different buildings and across a complex archaeological site. The unique character of the site and its spatial complexity has been embraced to create a learning environment that is stimulating and place specific. By scraping away modern layers of plaster and plasterboard, the industrial character of the buildings has been revealed. Soot-blackened walls are left on view and, against this rugged backdrop, new insertions are drawn from a palette of simple, robust materials. Two generous learning spaces are recovered from the shells of the nineteenth-century fabric, supported by the essential ancillary functions lacking in the previous learning facilities: a generous cloak room, dedicated WCs, offices and a lunchroom. The latter crowns the roof of the old boilerhouse, occupying the spatial envelope of a large water tank that was removed in 2003 and evoked in a veil-like wrap of perforated aluminium panels. Beneath the city streets, ramped walkways carefully navigate through and across standing archaeology in a part of the site that has been opened to public access for the first time. These spaces provide a third learning space where, immersed in Bath’s archaeological and historical past, children can try archaeology for themselves, excavating replica Roman objects in the ‘digging deep’ pit, and searching out sculpted stones among the scattered fragments and artefacts of the Roman site. The World Heritage Visitor Centre is free of charge and provides a source of local information that signposts visitors to heritage that does not have admission charges. The space contains multi-layered interpretation which caters for multiple learning styles and interests.

Judges’ Comments:

“The scheme is a showcase of interior design principles: sensitive, light touch insertions using a well-mannered palette of timber, glass, brick and plasterwork, beautiful shadow gap details and adroit juxtapositions with barely tamed existing fabric.”