img(height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2939831959404383&ev=PageView&noscript=1")

Holland’s 19th century Fort Asperen armoury in the town of Acquoy near Utrecht might have held explosives in the past, but its delicate timber structure stands at odds with the impressive defence line it is part of – all of which is now a designated UNESCO World Heritage site. Permission for the armoury’s conversion into an art gallery stipulated that the original structure must not be touched, so architect Bureau SLA literally built another building within it, completely clad in white LG HI-MACS to create a clear material counterpoint to the old building. Not only that, but the firm excavated 3m below ground level to create a gallery space that is far larger than first meets the eye. The overall effect is of a dramatic insertion into the armoury that is as alien as it is Tardis-like.

 

Latest

Tuesday 5 December 2023, 9 am – 11:15 am

Transport, Infrastructure and Warehouse Architecture webinar

The architect’s modern addition for the 400-year-old Oxford college concludes a decade-long project of restoration and renewal

The Oxford college’s modern library concludes a decade-long project of repair

Some complex engineering lies behind the slender new river crossing, a robust but sympathetic design that sits elegantly in its context

Complex engineering lies behind robust but elegant design

Named Dragon Flat, the practice has reinvented a 1950s former council flat in Notting Hill in unusual and intriguing ways

Council flat uses SterlingOSB Zero to conjure a taste of Japan

As we adapt to the warming climate, shading can help keep our buildings cool. In the first in our climate adaptation series, Tom Dollard of Pollard Thomas Edwards offers guidance on making shading part of your design

Shading can protect buildings from the warming climate, but how do you get it through planning and value engineering?