A faceted brick extension hyperlinks a manor home and a Seventeenth-century barn to kind the Shoemakers Museum in Somerset, England, designed by UK studio Purcell.
Commissioned by native charity Alfred Gillett Belief, the museum homes collections of fossils and shows on shoemaking, together with the historical past of shoe retailer Clarks, which was based regionally within the village of Avenue 200 years in the past.
A brick extension that’s fronted by a colonnade connects a renovated Sixteenth-century manor home and Seventeenth-century barn, forming an L-shaped format round a garden.
Gallery areas devoted to footwear are positioned within the two-storey brick extension, whereas fossil collections are discovered within the renovated barn. A restaurant and workplaces are positioned within the up to date manor home.
The higher portion of the Shoemakers Museum extension has a zigzagging exterior with corbelled brickwork – a method that includes protusions and recesses – crafted by native bricklayer PJ Cook dinner.
This ornamental facade was designed as a nod to the sawtooth roof of Clark’s former manufacturing unit and design parts seen in Clarks footwear, similar to perforations and zigzagging cloth edges.
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“We translated Clarks’ design language via delicate brick detailing – perforations like brogues, projections echoing seen stitching, pinked edges referenced within the stepped corbelling,” Purcell architect Alasdair Ferguson instructed Dezeen.
“It creates depth and character while referencing the craft and high quality of what is inside.”
Purcell’s design for the Shoemakers Museum aimed to have a good time the subject material of its collections – footwear and fossils – in addition to the historical past of Avenue.
Blue Lias limestone, which comprises fossil traces, was used to assemble parts of the museum partitions, round 70 per cent of which was salvaged from the location.
“It was a superb transient – designing a shoe and fossil museum that stitches collectively two very completely different listed buildings whereas creating one thing architecturally distinctive,” stated Ferguson.
“This museum reconnects Avenue to its heritage with a constructing that celebrates it,” he continued. “Every materials grounds the constructing in its context whereas telling the story of place, making and craft.”
“It is a dwelling for the tales of generations who made these footwear, giving the group a spot to honour their heritage crafted over 200 years.”
Different initiatives accomplished by Purcell embody the renovation of London’s Nationwide Portrait Gallery and the restoration of the Elizabeth Tower, which was shortlisted for the 2025 Stirling Prize.
The pictures is by Nick Guttridge.
