Historic Context
We undertake work with protected buildings, including repair, adaptation and extension. We have several years of experience working in sensitive planning environments, including conservation areas, Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings in London, Liverpool, Cambridge and Oxford, and UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Approach
We work with historic buildings to improve long-term operations, and strengthen the qualities that give them character and presence. We focus on creating coherent entities, sustaining cultural significance with better spaces, improved energy performance, access, and operational efficiency.
Partnerships
We work closely with owners and institutions to make buildings perform better. We work at different scales, from interior adaptation and thermal upgrades, to restructuring, extension and strategic review. We carry out feasibility studies, planning and listed building consent applications, detailed designs, and contractor coordination.
Canterbury Cathedral Organ Loft
From 2016 to 2020 Will led the project with Caruso St John to design a new organ loft for Canterbury Cathedral. The loft is located in the centre of the Cathedral in the north Quire aisle, and houses the organ, organist and assistants. It replaces the previous location of the console on the Pulpitum Screen between the Nave and Quire. The loft was part of wider works to address centuries-old issues with the sound of the organ, and the relationship of the organist to the choir master. The project was carried out in consultation with Purcell, Canterbury’s Fabric Advisory Committee and the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England.
As an object, the loft takes part in the verticality, asymmetrical organisation and additive composition of Gothic architecture. It sits like a small building in the larger Cathedral, alongside other structures such as pulpits, porches and tombs. The delicate frame is constructed from blackened steel, recalling the ironwork gates and railings in the cathedral. Black walnut panels enclose the stair and platform, the figured grain appearing somewhere between the 14th century tracery screens, and the flatness of the 12th century stone surfaces around it.
Darwin College Cambridge
Darwin College occupies several buildings around a garden, next to the River Cam in Cambridge. Two nineteenth century buildings, and two buildings built in 1969 to designs by Howell, Killick, Partridge and Amis, are Grade II listed. The masterplan for the College provides new social spaces and accessible facilities, with servicing and fabric upgrades to improve energy efficiency. The proposal reorganises the College, to better relate the social spaces to catering facilities, to each other and to the garden. Will Pirkis led the construction of phase one of the masterplan with Caruso St John, to install a new lift and accessible facilities at the entrance to the College, and the design of phase two involving social spaces and a new garden room.
Adaptation and expansion of five units at Burlington Arcade, London, and works to the Grade II listed building
Organ loft for Canterbury Cathedral, with Caruso St John. Image Hélène Binet
New social spaces, accessible facilities and energy performance improvements at Darwin College, Cambridge, with Caruso St John