Art Barn by Thomas and Peter Randall-Page
Art Barn by Thomas and Peter Randall-Page
Jim Stephenson Architectural Photography + Films
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2020
LOCATION
Devon, England, United Kingdom
CATEGORY
Cultural › Gallery
In this set of photos and accompanying short film, we see how Thomas Randall-Page slides open a muted agricultural building to reveal an elegant new art space for his father, the sculptor PeterRandall-Page RA.
In 2011 Peter bought a nondescript, modern cow barn deep in theDevon countryside.
He commissioned his son to convert it into an archive and store for his work.
After 9 years of designing and crafting, the project is complete, and clear evidence of how architecture can benefit from being done slowly.
A series of industrial scale shutters in cedar and galvanised steel playfully fold and slide, revealing a complex, multi-layered space within a mute and unassuming exterior.
Inside the vast day-lit gallery, a freestanding ‘creature’ stands on stone hooves.
Known as the ‘WinterStudio’ this room-within-a-room is the project’s nerve centre.
It is wrapped in a dark cork and warmed by a wood-burning stove. Beyond its door, a balcony offers long views out through the tree canopy and across the valley.
As the building is re-shuttered on departure, the balcony folds back flat, effortlessly becoming part of the wall again.
The Art Barn sits on the boundary between Devon’s rolling field-scape and the steep and wooded Teign Valley in Dartmoor National Park.
This 250m2solar-powered, off-grid building will function as a drawing studio, sculpture store, archive, occasional gallery, and ultimately a permanent home for Peter’s work.
