The Studio

The building, formerly empty and disused, is now a vibrant and lively workspace and makes a positive contribution to the public realm whilst retaining the language and materials of its industrial past. The two-storey single skin brick warehouse building was formerly the store to the Annie Sloan paint shop at no. 33 Cowley Road. The precise age of the building is unclear however it is likely to be Victorian and shows characteristics of being a service building for light industry or commercial use. Large rear doors to both levels suggest access was needed for goods. The size and scale of the building suggests it supported other activities as an outbuilding or store. Historically the immediate area was associated with motor cars with a former garage sited on the adjacent St Edmund Hall student accommodation now the William R Miller building complex, so it is likely that for the early part of the 20th Century the building was associated with motor cars. It is owned by The Charity of Thomas Dawson who were looking for a new use for the building when it became empty. Original Field was approached to look at the feasibility of separating it from the front shop and converting it into office space and developed the brief and specification with the charity with a view to taking on the building as their new studio. The project involved substantial upgrades of the thermal envelope along with overall refurbishment and landscape.