Working in collaboration with the renowned metal sculptor Matthew Sanderson, we designed and delivered a new 80-cover cafe facility at the popular Art Gallery in North West Wales. The existing cafe was located within a modern conservatory which was inappropriate with poor thermal properties. The form of the new dining area is generated from Matthew’s interest in nature and echoes the shell of a sea urchin. The rain screen facade is comprised of 89,000 stainless steel ‘barnacles’ all fabricated and welded by hand into sections which are secured over the water-tight fabric below.
Internally, Matthew designed and manufactured the principal structural elements of the dining space which rise to a central oculus. To the rear of the dining area is the new kitchen and servery contained within a simple larch clad volume. A circulation route between the new and historic fabric provides level access across the whole ground floor of the Centre and creates a transition between new and old. New toilets are located within the former kitchen to the back of the main house connected to the cafe by a new open colonnade.
Construction finished in October 2022 and the cafe was officially opened on 18 March 2023.
