Wales Institute for Sustainable Education, WISE
Subscribe now to instantly view this image
Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Tim Soar (website) Download Original
Academic building within in a disused slate quarry, incorporating a 200 seat lecture hall, dining hall and bar, workshops, offices and 24 en-suite bedrooms
In keeping with the centre's emphasis on 'business innovation and life long learning' the new building emerges from the particularities of site, programme and materials. (Centre for Alternative Technology is an educational centre offering courses in self build, renewable technologies and organic gardening as well as having a Part 2 architecture course accredited by UEL.)
Low energy materials are used throughout: a timber glulam structure, rammed earth walls, hemcrete exterior finish and ash floors. The exterior yellow ochre walls are intended to welcome visitors to the site, 'as if the sun is always shining'.
The building pays particular attention to it's use of light, whether this be daylight, sunlight or reflected light; the architect describes this as capturing the passage of time and changing of the seasons.
The 24 en-suite rooms draw influence from Japanese design and provide upmarket accommodation for a small proportion of the centre's 65,000 visitors each year.
Data
- Begun: Jun 2006
- Completed: May 2010
- Floor area: 2,280m2
- Sectors: Education, Hotel
- Total cost: £42M
- Procurement: Partnering Contract (PPC 2000)
- CO2 Emissions: 19kg/m2/year
- Address: Centre for Alternative Technology, Powys, SY20 9AZ, United Kingdom
Professional Team
- Architect: Pat Borer & David Lea Architects
- Client: Centre for Alternative Technology
- Quantity surveyor: Bowen Consultants
- Lighting consultant: Mott Macdonald Fulcrum & David Lea
- Initial Contractor: Frank Galliers
- Completion Contractor: C Sneade
- Structural engineer: Fulcrum Consulting/ WW
- Services engineer: Fulcrum Consulting/ WW
AJBL Sponsor
Thrislington Cubicles
Builders of the worlds best toilet cubicles, vanity units, lockers and panels at our factory in the United Kingdom since the 1960s