Dovecote Studio. Building for music.

Architecture firm, Haworth Tompkins has designed a music studio in derelict industrial buildings on the Suffolk coastline. A project that inhabits the old building and adds a Cor-ten steel structure.



Building something in an old construction always poses a major challenge to architects. The architects from Haworth Tompkins have come up with a multi award-winning design to add a music studio to the famous music campus founded by Benjamin Britten in Suffolk.





The architects came up with a Cor-ten steel volume, with the wall and roof panels prefabricated offsite, then welded together next to the ruins. The interiors of the structure were insulated and lined with plywood, and craned into place in the remains of the Victorian structure.





The Dovecote Studio was designed as a multipurpose space for on-campus musicians, engages with the backdrop and the large windows offer great views over the marshes towards the sea. 





The small Cor-ten steel box is almost like the architectural version of the soundbox of an instrument, expressing the true harmony of the works by the composer to which the site is dedicated.

Architect:   Haworth Tompkins, http://www.haworthtompkins.com/
Client:   Aldeburgh Music
Main Contractor:  Elliston Steady and Hawes (Building) Ltd
Structural Engineer:  Price and Myers LLP 
Environmental Engineer:  Ernest Griffiths 
CDM Coordinator:  PFB Construction Management Services Limited 
Photography: (c) Philip Vile, Courtesy of Haworth Tompkins