New visitor facilities, Red House, Bexleyheath

A modest, economical building that houses three visitor WCs and a cleaner’s cupboard, its significance lies in the fact it is the first new structure built on the site since the seminal Arts & Crafts building by Philip Webb was completed in 1860.

The roof form of the pavilion echoes and mirrors that of Webb’s steeply pitched, hipped and gabled Stable building nearby, albeit clad in timber and clearly reading as a contemporary addition. It effectively forms a new ‘book-end’ to the adjacent Coach House, completing the composition, and making a new relationship between the three outbuildings.

The building is entirely clad in timber, inside and out. Timber boards are taken up external walls and over the pitched roof, and open louvres provide a naturally lit and ventilated entrance enclosure. Internally, walls and underside of roof are lined in birch-faced plywood. Dark tiles, which match the original external engineering bricks, cover the floor.