Inspired by the effects of weather on J.M.W. Turner’s paintings, the project is set out to investigate the boundary between the exterior and the interior using the weather as an active architectural element, not to be excluded but to be mediated by the architecture. Turner involved the weather as both the subject matter and the author of his paintings through the spatial conditions of his studio. Located in Haggerston, the building proposal consists of a public library, a house and a garden. The library explores the extent of control and surrender to the weather. Simultaneously, it provokes a new user experience where conditions are not sterile and stagnant. The house introduces a programmatic challenge to provide a sense of mystery and a platform to interrogate another boundary – of the public and the private. The garden uses landscape as a mediating factor between the two. The public and private users are allowed to weave through the building, experiencing intimate yet subtle, and sometimes, dramatic variations in the weather – of the exterior, the interior and the transitional.

Tutors: Colin Herperger, Thomas Pearce