When we visited Sevenoaks Natural Reserve we were particularly interested in the various bird watching hides, with their narrow slit windows. There was a temptation to dwell on this typology in a pavilion type arrangement for our proposal.
However we endeavoured to reinterpret the calm of the hide at a larger scale through an open SKY ROOM, a room without a roof at the heart of the new building. There is a direct reference to the art installations of James Turrell in Yorkshire Sculpture park and the elemental art space conjured by Rei Naito on Teshima Island in Japan.
The Sky Room allows the rain and sun to pour right through the heart of the building, the generous inverted eaves providing ample protection. It will shelter the permanent and temporary exhibitions, being able to also expand into the flexible studio space.
The Sky Room walls are designed as ‘fat walls’, taking permanent exhibit interactive windows/ dioramas on one side and storage on the other side. The full height sliding panel system will allow for a change of mood with the space focusing now and again solely on the sky element.
