The American Museum and Gardens is an educational, cultural and social institution that’s one of a kind. Set in a 125-acre estate on the edge of Bath, the Grade I listed manor building has been home to the museum for decades.
We have worked with the museum’s trustees, directors and its historic buildings for more than 20 years to create a variety of new facilities. From creating new basement galleries to converting the coach house into an auditorium and event space : we’re proud to have worked on many exciting building re-use projects there.
What did we do? Relevant work has included:
- A ten-year plan to develop the site for local tourism and sustainable growth.
- Innovative conversions, which minimised the need for new structures and associated embodied carbon.
- Retro-fit ready works including resolving structural defects and water ingress to ensure longevity of the external fabric in a warming and wetter climate.
- Long-term plans to include further heat pumps and possibly biomass to move away from fossil fuels.
- Converting the coach house and stable to an education centre. This facility accommodates high volumes of people, so tackling the potential for overheating was key. Extracting these levels of heat would normally require an energy-hungry device, but as part of our innovative solution, we left the thermal mass exposed to act as a heat sink. We also dropped the floor by more than 1m – a radical proposal for a listed building, but one which was necessary to increase the stack effect of natural ventilation. High level roof lights allowed this natural ventilation, supplemented by. mechanical airflow underneath mezzanine floors. Natural local materials and finishes were used to minimise treatments and VOCs.
Why did we re-use the buildings? Given the estate’s international historic significance and the manor’s listed status, we employed innovative solutions to bring buildings and spaces back into use.
How did our client benefit? Re-using spaces for new galleries and an education centre has helped broaden our client’s offer and added further to the museum’s income stream.
