{"id":198930,"date":"2022-06-14T02:28:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T17:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/?p=198930"},"modified":"2022-06-14T02:28:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T17:28:13","slug":"a-masterful-refurbishment-at-the-courtauld-london-with-more-forthcoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/architect\/a-masterful-refurbishment-at-the-courtauld-london-with-more-forthcoming\/","title":{"rendered":"A Masterful Refurbishment at The Courtauld, London With More Forthcoming – An Interview With Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Interview With Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects<\/h3>\r\n

S<\/span>tepping off Strand sits The Courtauld within the compounds of the more widely known Somerset House. The Courtauld is an internationally renowned centre for the teaching and research of art history and a major public gallery. Its public gallery is best known to hold an impressive art collection focused on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. The Courtauld has recently undergone a two-year refurbishment, a major one after moving into the Somerset House in 1989; three-fifths of the entire refurbishment project was completed in November 2021. The completed areas so far include the new exhibition galleries, new ground floor visitor reception, new staircase, new lower ground floor reception space, and upgrade of the conservation studios and education studios for The Courtauld\u2019s students.<\/p>\r\n

Witherford Watson Mann Architects is a London-based skilled studio of twenty led by Stephen Witherford, Christopher Watson and William Mann. The studio most notably won the 2013 RIBA Stirling Prize for its distinctive entwining of past and present in Astley Castle for the Landmark Trust. I had the pleasure of interviewing Stephen Witherford from Witherford Watson Mann Architects, the Lead Director on the project who kindly shared his insights on working with the inherited Sir William Chambers\u2019 compositions, the design sensibilities in working with a historical building, persuading and gaining support from the client, and other challenges that were part of the journey in completing one of two parts of The Courtauld\u2019s refurbishment.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment - The Day of Institutionally and Physically Being One is Finally In Sight<\/h4>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Can you briefly introduce The Courtauld and when you and your team at Witherford Watson Mann Architects started working with the organisation?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Around 2013, we originally started working with one of the departments in The Courtauld. We were asked to look at creating a small gallery on the mezzanine, a dedicated space to show the Prints and Drawings collections.<\/p>\r\n

Whilst we were working on that project, in the background, was the beginning of the masterplanning process for the whole of The Courtauld. The masterplan of The Courtauld eventually went to a public tender in 2014. When that happened, we were finishing the small gallery and we thought we'd have a go at pitching for the larger project.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

For the public tender that you mentioned, what was the process like?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

It was an open tender - the European Framework tender, so any practice within the European Union could apply. There was a process of reducing those applications down to a shortlist. From then on, it was a focused small design competition; there was an interview process and a series of stages down to the final stage. In the final stage, three practices had a second interview and the winner was selected from that in the summer of 2014.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

It sounds like that small project led to a larger opportunity.<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

That's right, which is interesting because when you undertake a large project, sometimes the best way to understand what it might be is to carry out a pilot project.<\/p>\r\n

On some of the projects we've done, we would make a small part of the project first to test out the idea, particularly if it was an urban strategy. We might work on a small part, see how that works, learn from this insight and then weave that knowledge back into the design of the larger project. On The Courtauld, we started with the pilot project without knowing it was going to be a pilot, but now we can see that it was very influential on how we thought about the bigger project.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\u201cOn The Courtauld, we started with the pilot project without knowing it was going to be a pilot, but now we can see that it was very influential on how we thought about the bigger project.<\/p>\r\n

- Stephen Witherford, Lead Director for The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The space itself is quite complex. When walking through the publicly accessible spaces, it is not immediately clear which part is new and which part is old. To me, that's also its success because it means everything has been integrated really well. Can you share one or two of your favourite spaces in Phase I?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

First of all, it is important to say that we won the project to masterplan the whole of The Courtauld. Our scheme has always focused on a single vision to be delivered in two phases. The thinking, the briefing, the planning application, and the listed building application are for one project that was divided into two parts. We have delivered three-fifths of the project, what you refer to as Phase I. Phase I dealt with what we call the Strand Block, which is the central part of Chambers\u2019 North Wing at the Somerset House.<\/p>\r\n

There were two parts, which for me and probably for us, were the most challenging. They were probably also the two pivotal parts of the project. The project sought to break down, both institutionally and physically within the building, a series of obstructions that prevented the different departments and activities from coming together. Most visitors previously wouldn't have known that there was a world-leading conservation department or it wouldn't be unusual for people not to know there was an art history university on the other side of a wall because there would be very little contact or knowledge of that. Most people would only have known the collection of fantastic paintings, drawings and artefacts. This project sought to pull the departments into a set of relationships where they could intermingle more and also allow visitors to understand the other activities that The Courtauld undertakes more than they might now.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

The project sought to break down, both institutionally and physically within the building a series of obstructions that prevented the different departments and activities from coming together.<\/p>\r\n

- Stephen Witherford, Lead Director for The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

The two parts of the project which most enabled that to happen were tunneling through the lower ground vaults, which were originally use for storing coal; then creating two new galleries on the second floor, which bridge across and connect the East and the West staircases. By bridging across the second floor and tunneling through the vaults at the lower ground level,<\/em> we have created two primary connections between the two historic staircases; a new circuit that allowed the rooms adjacent to the staircases to be accessible to many more visitors, students and staff. I'd say that these were the most challenging interventions because they\u2019ve had the most extensive engineering, the most extensive servicing, and the most architecturally challenging to reconcile the new with the existing architecture.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

These kinds of moments where you create opportunities for the conservation or education studio to be more upfront to public visitors, how did you try to understand that as an architect?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

We had to be briefed and also run workshops with all the different departments at The Courtauld. Back to what I said originally - it was one project which covered all the activities of The Courtauld. There were representatives from all the different departments that we sat down and worked with. We talked about how they did what they did, and how they might be able to do it differently -\u00a0 more purposefully or to a higher level of ambition if they had different sorts of spaces.<\/p>\r\n

Besides that, we also had experiences going to exhibitions around London. I recall very vividly an exhibition at the Tate Modern called the \u2018Mark Rothko\u2019s Late Works<\/a><\/span>\u2019. The Conservation Department at the Tate had done a lot of forensic work trying to understand how Rothko had applied paint to get those very blurred edges. I just remember seeing queues of people wanting to see that part of the exhibition on the painting techniques and the conservation work. I guess that gives you confidence in knowing that some people go with a friend just to see the paintings and some people are really interested in the technique of paintings. There's a huge interest in it - it's a different insight.<\/p>\r\n

What I feel is really beautiful about The Courtauld is that it looks at art history through both an academic lens and direct encounters with original works in the Collection. It always had collections of paintings, drawings and prints from which students could experience an emotional connection with works. It also had conservation studies in the technical department to provide a different insight into how works are made, the processes, the materials and their cultural context when each painting was made.<\/p>\r\n

Even things like the trade routes where certain pigments came into availability in Europe; certain pigments were more expensive so they had a higher value, which elevated a painting\u2019s status. There's a whole cultural context for materials. Through its staff and students, The Courtauld can offer this unique insight to its visitors, which is different from other institutions.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

An Interview With Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects<\/h3>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

With The Courtauld being a university - the smallest University in the UK but home to the largest community of art historians and conservators, is there anything in particular with the students and the staff that affected how your team approached the project?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The way we approach the project, like a lot of projects we do, is to work backwards in time to understand how an organisation or an institution ends up becoming the way it becomes. You have to think backwards in order to help them think themselves forwards because there's always a strong culture, and that culture has a spatial manifestation. At The Courtauld, what we didn't understand is how the different departments were located together at Somerset House from where they used to be separated at Portman Square. In reality, they hadn't really<\/em> come together. They hadn't really connected together to realise the benefits of being more interconnected.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\u2026to work backwards in time to understand how an organisation or an institution ends up becoming the way it becomes. You have to think backwards in order to help them think themselves forwards because there's always a strong culture, and that culture has a spatial manifestation.<\/p>\r\n

- Stephen Witherford, Lead Director for The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

When we talked to students and staff, a number of people expressed their concerns that although there was a Collection, they didn't feel they had much access or relationship with it. The Collection in the galleries, the conservation departments, and the teaching departments were close together, but they weren't frequently experienced together by the students, the staff or the visitors. We simply listened to that and explored why that might be the case.<\/p>\r\n

We looked at The Courtauld\u2019s original home from its beginning around 1932, when it occupied Home House. Every time an expansion was needed, they just rented the next house and grew in increments of house. At the back of the houses were the technical departments. The gallery was formed in a separate place at Woburn Square. Each activity had a defined spatial territory.<\/p>\r\n

At Somerset House, the Strand Block was originally designed and built to house nine organisations in suites of rooms. In 1989 when The Courtauld moved in, they moved their different \u2018houses\u2019 and corresponding departments into the different institutional suites of rooms that existed. For example, the conservation department moved into the West Wing; teaching moved into the East Wing; the library moved into the basement vaults; the gallery occupied the centre. They brought their spatial divisions with them, which was really interesting. When we understood that, we thought about what our architecture could do to help realise the original Courtauld vision of integrating the sets of disciplines and activities together for the benefit for all.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"WWM<\/a>

Somerset House in London was built to house nine institutions in suites of rooms. Image cour-tesy of Witherford Watson Mann Architects.<\/p><\/div>

\"adf-web-magazine-somerset<\/a>

Departmental specialisms occupying the space within the Somerset House, London since 1989. Image courtesy of Witherford Watson Mann Architects.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

We looked at unlocking the barriers, opening up thresholds and making a more porous building. This would enable the different departments to connect together, for the visitors and students to become more aware of each other, and open up opportunities for different kinds of awareness, collaborations, interactions or conversations. The staff, students and visitors all share a real love or interest in art, so there's this lovely shared interest. At the heart of this project, as architects, we just had to imagine how we could help unlock and support that.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

We looked at unlocking the barriers, opening up thresholds and making a more porous building. This would enable the different departments to connect together, for the visitors and students to become more aware of each other, and open up opportunities for different kinds of awareness, collaborations, interactions or conversations\u2026 At the heart of this project, as architects, we just had to imagine how we could help unlock and support that.<\/p>\r\n

- Stephen Witherford, Lead Director for The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

From your deep research of the move from Portman Square to Somerset House, was there anything that revealed why they have literally moved their arrangement of departments as they had previously existed? They had the intention to bring the school together but why didn't they do more at that time?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

It\u2019s not a question we could easily answer but what I would say is, in institutions, departmental divisions are usually part of the makeup of most organisations, and certainly in a lot of cultural institutions. The different departments quite often don't integrate or come together enough. I don't know what the psychology of that is. Some of it is spatial and some of it is cultural. When The Courtauld moved from Portland Square to Somerset House, the gallery team and the teaching team each appointed their own architects.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

That there is possibly a huge hint.<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I can't tell you why the departmental differences and divisions occurred but the fact is that they didn't have a single architect acting for both of them. Part of the culture at The Courtauld is that they're a fiercely independent-minded organisation. They are the smallest University in the UK but home to the largest community of art historians and conservators; they didn't want to be part of a big university at that stage and wanted to pull themselves away. They want to think differently about art, to think differently about the context in which art is made. And maybe that means that the fiercely independent nature of the individuals means collaborative thinking doesn't come easily - it's almost the opposite of what their skills are.<\/p>\r\n

Another way of looking at our project is that it is the first time The Courtauld picked one architect to carry out a project for the whole institution? In their history, they'd always remained quite independent. The Courtauld had always been spatially divided since its origins in Portman Square. The gallery was in a separate building that was partly completed and the idea was The Courtauld would later build the other half so that the gallery would then occupy the whole roof. An architect designed the gallery but not integrated with the teaching departments, even back then. History repeated itself with the move to Somerset House. Finally, through our work, The Courtauld will be unified through a single set of actions and thinking.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"WWM<\/a>

Aspiration of a circuit for shared exchanges when The Courtauld, London project ends. Image courtesy of Witherford Watson Mann Architects.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

This appears to be a huge turning point for The Courtauld?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I think time will tell if it has worked or not. We always say that institutions can change their buildings to suit them, but they also have to change to use their building.<\/p>\r\n

The Transformation at The Courtauld<\/h4>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

It has been about six months since the completion of Phase I, have you received any initial feedback?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Some of the teaching staff and students have visited the new galleries and the collections. They\u2019ve felt quite inspired and motivated by the quality of what\u2019s been done. Of course, they would like that same quality for the teaching and research part of the building. We\u2019ve had a little bit of feedback not in terms of how the whole thing could work in the future, but in terms of the level of ambition, the quality, the sense of openness, the sense of light, diversity of the new spaces and how they feel.<\/p>\r\n

The other big change is access. The original building had something like 52 changes in level. The idea with this project is it really transforms accessibility, providing access to anyone who has limited mobility. It is also an important part of Phase II that the level of accessibility and openness is delivered to the same as Phase I so that opportunities for staff, students and visitors to attend lectures, research forums, educational programmes, etc, just as much as the gallery. There's an issue of consistency and of integrity, where the ethos of an organisation is to make sure that things like access and openness are delivered across the entire project. They're not just where the public money is or where the public philanthropy is - they also have to be where the educational ambition is to become more accessible to different kinds of students, tutors and also visitors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"aking<\/a>

Making it accessible throughout at The Courtauld, London, by removing the historic steps in the vestibule. Image courtesy of Witherford Watson Mann Architects.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

On top of the complex connections, you also have the challenge of working with a Grade I listed building. How did you and your team address this sensitive work? Did it lead to any interesting solutions that would not have otherwise been built?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Somerset House is a significant building in Britain. It has a Grade 1 listed status which is the highest level of protection and restrictions on what you can alter. The Courtauld occupies an integral and essential part of the Somerset House complex, which is one of London's most notable Georgian set pieces - one architect, one vision, one funder, one site and a set of buildings that have remained in government control largely, so have not been altered much over the centuries. It's an incredibly unified project. Therefore, there were a lot of concerns about what one might do and how one might make the changes which we sought to make.<\/p>\r\n

In a way, the changes are quite radical. Here is a building designed to separate nine organisations, and now there is a need to connect more, that is going to involve some destructive acts. We worked closely with Westminster Council and Historic England in a series of workshops. We went through the entire story for this project, what it sought to achieve and then all the things you might have to change to enable that to happen. We had to negotiate all of those things before submitting an application to be assessed. For me, that process was extremely positive; it was an incredible exchange of experiences, ideas and thoughts about best practices and involved some interesting debates.<\/p>\r\n

When you're outside The Courtauld building, there's a covered area called the vestibule, where there are three vaults extending between the Strand and the courtyard. The Courtauld\u2019s entrances are off that space. Previously, you couldn't access either entrance if you were in a wheelchair, so we've adjusted the levels by removing steps and creating shallow ramps. We were able to source the same stone used in the mid-18th century, excavated from the same quarry in northern Sweden to ensure that the adjustments could be made without undermining the original architecture.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-creating<\/a>

Creating shallow ramps to truly welcome everyone into The Courtauld, London. Image cour-tesy of Witherford Watson Mann Architects.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

A lot of people didn't actually see what had changed but there's an immense amount of work. It looks like it could always have been like it is now. There were huge engineering works and thousands of small skillful details to make things feel like they didn't undermine that historic architecture. It requires a lot of patience and collaborative working to achieve that quality.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-refurbishment<\/a>

Refurbishment at The Courtauld, London. Image courtesy of Stephen Witherford from Wither-ford Watson Mann Architects.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Some people might be demonstrative about what they change to let you know \u2018we were here\u2019. In the context of this project, we looked to radically transform something in a slightly gentler way. The old and the new are in a dialogue with each other and each is informing the other t. The new is changing the old but the old is informing the new. It feels much lighter, fresher and open as a building. It feels more contemporary but its real qualities are that its historic characteristics and features are more present now.<\/p>\r\n

The ambition is that the new additions and rooms have correspondences with the historic conditions but are made in a contemporary way. For example, the new staircase we built is a traditional cantilevered stone staircase but it's more modest in detailing than Chambers\u2019 stairs. There's a subservience but then there's also a conversation going on. The new things feel very new but also feel like they belong in this building. In certain places you wouldn't even really be able to quite tell, you'd have to look very hard to know what has changed.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

An Interview With Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects<\/h3>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

You mentioned working closely with Westminster Council and the process was positive. Do you think this project was able to set a kind of precedent?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

We\u2019re quite a small scale practice; we\u2019re not seeking to do large numbers of projects but we hope that doing fewer projects with a lot of ambition and skill, we are able to deliver buildings that change the way people think about things. Then other people can use these projects as a precedent. You can use fewer highly imaginative projects to influence the quality of what other people may seek to do. As an example, we completed a project in 2013 for Astley Castle<\/a><\/span>, a ruin turned into a house which you can rent from the Landmark Trust. It\u2019s extremely unusual because we\u2019ve left most of it as a ruin - a lot of it is untouched. Indeed, if you pass around the edges of it, you might not even know that it is a new house inside. There are only some subtle clues. It is a bit like what happened at The Courtauld where we did intervene quite heavily - we made some quite destructive changes but by doing that, the new work created opportunities for a greater awareness of the old, suggesting new interpretations. The new work enabled continuity of use, it allowed for more people to engage in the building\u2019s history.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

...The Courtauld where we did intervene quite heavily - we made some quite destructive changes but by doing that, the new work created opportunities for a greater awareness of the old, suggesting new interpretations. The new work enabled continuity of use, it allowed for more people to engage in the building\u2019s history.<\/p>\r\n

- Stephen Witherford, Lead Director for The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

By making the changes to access and the integration of the different rooms, you can accommodate more visitors and enable them to spend more time there. You are enabling a closer relationship to these historic spaces. This is analogous to what The Courtauld does as an institution; searching to find insights into things, suggesting new interpretations - there\u2019s an aspect of this taking place. There\u2019s an aspect of this which is authored and edited, where you bring out certain aspects of the history, as much as you\u2019re also reducing other readings at the same time. For example, the coal cellar walls and the small attic rooms that we removed were spaces visitors and students would never have been able to access. Now they are accessible areas, so each aspect of destruction also enables other things to happen. That was the balance we were trying to strike with Westminster Council and Historic England; to establish a major shift in the overall public benefit of the transformation.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

When I visited The Courtauld Gallery recently, I was particularly drawn to the lighting quality during my visit. Can you share what you and your team set out to achieve?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Once again, we usually search backwards to think forwards. Looking at the arrangement of the building, Chambers starts off on the earth with heavy brick vaults, then he works through the stone and the architectural orders, and then at the top is a world of ornate plasterwork, cornices and mouldings. Chambers followed a similar structure with natural light; there are two-storied lightwells which take light into the basement, one storey sunken courts light the lower ground floor, the windows around the ground and the first floor illuminate these rooms, and on the second floor are glazed lanterns to the sky. There is a whole structure of light in the building. There\u2019s this whole idea that some of those spaces are almost external; the two staircases have internal windows treated as if they\u2019re outside spaces. At the bottom of the old Royal Academy stairs, there is a rusticated screen which is like the outside of a building where you walk through to enter the stair. They\u2019ve got glass lanterns at the top of the staircases. Natural light flows down which also gives them this external quality. At the top of the West stair, which was the old Royal Academy staircase, the architecture is treated like a belvedere, an open screen which looks out and over the stair as if it\u2019s an outside space. There are some beautiful ideas in the natural light which structured the whole building, so we followed those principles because we understood them and they were very intact.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-from<\/a>

From the bottom of the old Royal Academy stairs at The Courtauld, London looking up to-wards the natural light flowing down and the rusticated screen at the bottom. Image by Von Chua.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

We approached the artificial lighting in a way that worked with that structure of spaces. Where you have the most ornate rooms on the first floor - the Fine Rooms, we used very delicate suspended tracks which follow the geometry of the plasterwork, with small lights that light the paintings. In the second floor\u2019s galleries, there is a combination of light tracks which are embedded into ceilings where they\u2019re not historic, and suspended tracks following the historic cornices. The lighting is handled differently in each of the rooms and in relation to where the natural light is falling. That\u2019s quite a subtle thing, unless you walked around just looking at those aspects, you might not notice it.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

We approached the artificial lighting in a way that worked with that (Sir William Chambers\u2019) structure of spaces\u2026The lighting is handled differently in each of the rooms and in relation to where the natural light is falling.<\/p>\r\n

- Stephen Witherford, Lead Director for The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-natural<\/a>

Natural lighting and delicate artificial lighting in the LVMH Great Room at The Courtauld, London. Image by Von Chua.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

The proposed design provides the gallery team greater flexibility and control in terms of how they light the work or objects which are not on the walls. It\u2019s a state of the art lighting arrangement in a historic building. With all that servicing, we had to think how do you put in contemporary systems for all the air control? What about thermal control, security, CCTVs, lighting, access and fire? How do you integrate all those into the historic fabric and not see any of it? That is where we had long hours of design time finding the small ways you can integrate those elements into the voids in the building, the old chimney flues, etc.<\/p>\r\n

This careful integration is one of the important aspects of the building, so that it feels more open and porous, lighter to move around and more generous. We did not really generate any additional floor area but the building feels more spacious. It is to do with doors being held open and the integration of fire systems and security systems into them. These elements of the building work very hard. We spent a lot of time designing and finding the right strategies and components which can be concealed as much as possible. Then, the workmanship required to accommodate these things - there\u2019s little dimensional tolerance, so you\u2019re working to very high levels of craftsmanship and coordination. If it\u2019s not thought about, it just doesn\u2019t integrate in a seamless way - you\u2019ll see it. That\u2019s one aspect of the design which a lot of people did an enormous amount of work on. They\u2019re normally not the people that you get to hear about but their work was really incredible.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-accommodating<\/a>

Accommodating modern air-handling systems and services behind the historic building fabric at The Courtauld, London. Image courtesy of Stephen Witherford from Witherford Watson Mann Architects.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Von Chua:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Are there any opportunities to perhaps shine a light on the craftsmen?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

There is a talk which I did on our website called \u2018Out of Site\u2019. Over two years of construction, I took a series of photos of the things that no one sees and the things that workmen and craftsmen do. (See link to the talk at the end of this article)<\/em><\/p>\r\n

They\u2019re not things that are often on our drawings, they\u2019re not in our specifications, they\u2019re the things that craftsmen do which you can never define because you don\u2019t have their knowledge and skill - they realise a detail better than you can sometimes define it.<\/p>\r\n

For a really good project to happen, and this was the case at The Courtauld, you want to build a collective vision that the different workmen combine to make, even though they do not know how their part fits into the whole. They\u2019re just doing their part; the joiners are taking off the old doors, stripping them down, putting in all these new security and fire release mechanisms, reapplying the historic wood grain and rehanging the doors. They don\u2019t know what that\u2019s going to add up to, but they see this when it all comes together. Everyone put so much effort into realising their parts. They make things of a quality which we couldn\u2019t necessarily define \u2013 it is one of the great outcomes of the project. The design team can only do so much, the way for a building to be really beautiful is for the people that make the actual work to become part of the project. You have to put in your time and effort in working with them closely for them to feel that they\u2019re not just being instructed to do something. You\u2019re working with them. It\u2019s not something you ever get taught as an architect.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

...you want to build a collective vision that the different workmen combine to make, even though they do not know how their part fits into the whole\u2026 They don\u2019t know what that\u2019s going to add up to but they can see this when it all comes together. Everyone put so much effort into realising their parts. They make things of a quality in ways which we couldn\u2019t necessarily define \u2013 it is one of the great outcomes of the project.<\/p>\r\n

- Stephen Witherford, Lead Director for The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Particularly in a historic building where the dimensional tolerances are so tight, you continually discover things which you didn\u2019t know were there. You really have to work together to resolve it. The workmen and craftsmen are going to be losing money, so you have to work it out together quickly and effectively in a way which almost improves the end result rather than compromises it.<\/p>\r\n

One of the things at The Courtauld is that when your eye moves around spaces, it doesn\u2019t feel lots of awkward things because your eyes always notice when things aren\u2019t quite right even if you don\u2019t know what it is. Part of the way we did that at The Courtauld was that we designed everything in rooms; each room has its own particular architecture, its own characteristics, and hardly any of the rooms are the same. We developed a family of details and you adjust them to suit the specific conditions. It is a kind of softening in a way, you avoid distinct clashes between the old and the new, you\u2019re tailoring a new language to make sure it sits within the historic room well.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

...we designed everything in rooms; each room has its own particular architecture, its own characteristics, hardly any of the rooms are the same. We developed a family of details and you adjust them to suit the specific conditions. It is a kind of softening in a way, you avoid distinct clashes between the old and the new, you\u2019re tailoring a new language to make sure it sits within the historic room well.<\/p>\r\n

- Stephen Witherford, Lead Director for The Courtauld\u2019s Refurbishment<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

An Interview With Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects<\/h3>\r\n

Von Chua:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

What was the most challenging part of bringing Phase I into fruition?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

There are two parts to that. At The Courtauld, we couldn\u2019t provide additional space because we were restricted with the building. We have the same size building to accommodate all the different ambitions. Sometimes in an institution, one way you can accommodate everyone\u2019s ambitions is you just provide more space, which is generally what people want. Or you create a new space that can be of a higher standard or a higher technical resolution. You can almost build your way out of a problem. This was one of the hardest aspects at The Courtauld - to work with the team to work out how to realise their ambitions and their requirements within those existing spaces. It characterised the whole project because we worked very closely and had to be very clear on the priorities; what were the things that were most important because you couldn\u2019t accommodate everything.<\/p>\r\n

Previously, there were secondary spaces for security or storage on what is now part of the public circuit. We had to relocate a lot of those spaces to lower ground areas or back of house, so that the student spaces, the teaching spaces, and the public visiting spaces could occupy all of the rooms. The whole briefing process involved agreeing on what went where, how it all fitted in, and who got what within an institution where each department is fighting as much as it can to look after its own ambitions. The masterplanning of the institution became a form of spatial negotiation and that was really challenging.<\/p>\r\n

The second part, which is the same for many projects, is in securing the funding. The Courtauld\u2019s refurbishment was largely privately funded through major donors, trusts and organisations. The project was built through Covid-19, which significantly slowed us down. We also had a lot of discoveries onsite because of the way the building had been altered over time, but these changes were never recorded, so these things extended the programme onsite and that increased the costs. Securing the funding and the continual backing from the Board of Trustee\u2019s for the project, required a lot of courage from everyone to hold onto the project ambitions.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Speaking about the funding, were there any points where it became difficult such that design had to be diluted?<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Not long before we started onsite, we went through a round of what is called \u2018value engineering\u2019. To be fair, this happened all the way through the project; there were external experts who joined us in workshops where we scrutinised the mechanical services strategy, structural strategy, lifts etc. For example, on the ventilation strategy, industry experts were looking at it from every angle, asking questions about the maintenance, servicing routes and details for access. In order to be economical and as effective as we could be with the budget, we re-used a lot of the existing first floor ventilation and installed new air control systems for the second floor. It involved a combination of being quite modest in what you do in some areas and very ambitious with other areas.<\/p>\r\n

There were one or two things that got cut but nothing that compromised the project significantly. One of the things that was often identified as potentially being removed was the connection through the vaults. Each time it was targeted, there was just enough support to retain it in the project. The director, Deborah Swallow, fought hard to hold on to this. It was expensive to make this connection but it was one of the really transformative changes because it connects things that would have never been connected. For this project, it\u2019s probably more important to talk about how we managed to hold onto things, which talks about the courage and the conviction of an institution and its Board to make those most challenging ambitions happen. I think they were amazing. As an architect, you never take that for granted.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-the<\/a>

The vault connection runs the width of the building in the lower ground floor at The Courtauld, London. Image by Von Chua.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Von Chua:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

When you have clients who are on the same page, it changes a lot.<\/p>\r\n

Stephen Witherford:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Obviously, it takes a lot of persuasion, presentations, drawings and visual communication to help each other understand the vision. It takes a lot of listening and discussion for us to understand their challenges. It\u2019s difficult describing how a project to connect rooms and activities differently can add to something, it\u2019s hard to put your finger on what it will actually do. If you\u2019re delivering additional space, that\u2019s easy. If you\u2019re delivering new facilities, that\u2019s easy. But this was not like that. You can\u2019t actually define exactly what making the connection through the vaults is going to deliver, for example, because it changes the way people come together, the way ideas get exchanged, the way these unpredictable things find their way into the institution\u2019s thoughts and activities in the future. You are dealing with the way people interact and engage with each other and that\u2019s not very tangible.<\/p>\r\n

When you don\u2019t think you\u2019ve got quite enough funding, you\u2019re looking at things that aren\u2019t essential, and the intangible benefits are the things that get targeted for omission. Because the cost is evident and the benefit is more ambiguous. Ultimately, we believe, and others believed, that these were the kind of things that would have the biggest impact on the transformation of the building to support the institution\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

Stephen\u2019s background in construction before pursuing architecture is quietly evident in the way he describes and resolves the complex challenges of The Courtauld\u2019s major refurbishment. What started off as a small commission at The Courtauld eventually contributed to the architectural team\u2019s in-depth understanding of the organisation and the way they operate; the small commission proved to be an important pilot project for the team at Witherford Watson Mann Architects to bring their knowledge to bear on The Courtauld\u2019s ambitions to realise the overall masterplan across The Courtauld.<\/p>\r\n

In Witherford Watson Mann Architects<\/a><\/span>\u2019 website, there is a 9-point introduction to the studio. The below quote is one that caught my attention and one that reveals a lot about the results seen in Phase I. There is a subtle air of elegance not revealed in photographs, it exists in the atmosphere as you walk through each room where everything sits right where they belong.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

We design buildings and spaces by imagining how people will experience them. Some of this is skill, a large part is empathy.<\/p>\r\n

- Witherford Watson Mann Architects<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

At the end of the interview, Stephen revealed that his team is expecting to hear about Phase II\u2019s next steps by the end of May 2022. It will be a few more years before the whole refurbishment completes, I look forward to visiting The Courtauld at its full completion. I can only imagine what the past few years of exchanges and mutual understanding between the client, design team, the craftsmen and workmen has culminated into. In the meantime, The Courtauld is open to visitors every day. To plan your visit to The Courtauld, London visit the link: https:\/\/courtauld.ac.uk\/gallery\/plan-your-visit\/<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n

A sincere thank you to Stephen Witherford for taking his time to share the insights on the completion of Phase I at The Courtauld and to Professor Deborah Swallow for the opportunity to make this interview possible.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

Stephen Witherford<\/strong>\u2019<\/strong>s Out of Site Talk<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Out of Site YouTube Link: https:\/\/youtu.be\/pZBeIXKuxZk<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Quotes from Stephen Witherford\u2019s presentation:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

Over the past two years I have worked with an amazing group of people on the construction of our project at The Courtauld. I have been particularly struck by the craftsmen and the means they have employed to achieve the drawn and the written relationships we have sought.<\/p>\r\n

\u00a0\u2018Out of Site\u2019 refers to the nature of human actions that have emanated from the construction of our project within William Chambers\u2019 Somerset House Strand Block. But it also acknowledges a fundamental aspect of this process- those things outside our point of fixation. I have noticed the things architects often don\u2019t define in drawings and specifications, things beyond the peripheral vision of construction information. By necessity, these things introduce risk into the process of construction and we become reliant on the collaborative exchange between idea and means - we are in the hands of others.<\/p>\r\n

My eye has been drawn to the fleeting, the temporary, improvisations and skills that have enabled a highly defined set of interventions to be carried out - the \u2018workmanship of risk\u2019 necessary to make our architecture of \u2018precision\u2019.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n

If you have any questions or would like to further discuss this interview, please do not hesitate to contact me via email at von@vonxarchitects.com<\/a><\/p><\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Interview With Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects tepping off Strand sits The Courtaul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":198807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\"A Masterful Refurbishment at The Courtauld, London With More Forthcoming - An Interview With Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects\" #architecture #adf #npoadf","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[7],"tags":[38,49,93,110,170],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/adf-web-magazine-aspiration-of-a-circuit-for-shared-exchanges-when-the-courtauld-london-project-ends.-image-courtesy-of-witherford-watson-mann-architects.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}