Ryton Organic Gardens, Ryton on Dunmore, Coventry
The client is an institute for research into methods of organic horticulture, and is based on a rural site on the southern fringes of Coventry. The Institute has evolved over a number of years, occupying a farmhouse, and a series of outhouses and temporary buildings, forming a complex site that also included public gardens and a visitor centre. The architectural brief for this project was to bring together all of the parts of the institute into a single research centre building. The response was a modular plan of eight separate units, linked by a corridor/walkway, all with a common constructional theme. Timber was used as both the structural and cladding material, with pre-cast concrete roofs to provide a fair-faced ceiling and thermal mass into what would otherwise have been a lightweight building. The new buildings have proved very popular and successful following their completion in 2008.
Architect ABQ Studio
Client Henry Doubleday Research Association
Project Value £2.5 million
