Artists’ Studios in Aberystwyth
12 October, 2022
This project was to make eight artists ateliers for 16 artists out of the very expensive material stainless steel. The artist, Thomas Heatherwick, who worked on the project wanted to make cabins that inspired the artists' work thereby creating grand structures hidden within the wildlife. He chose steel due to its shiny appearance so it will reflect the foliage around, thus blending in. To achieve this the design team used a timber stud frame to be the load-bearing system and attach crimped 0.1mm rolled stainless steel foil to the outside to give a bubbled shell effect. The reason why they used thin crimped foil was to reduce cost but make sure the structure was still stable.
I really liked this design the location was beautiful, and the idea to reflect the foliage and really use every element of the surrounding is really inspiring. The design team used amazing problem-solving skills and managed to really combine function and aesthetics together. I think the separate cabins were a great plan because of the location something big and shiny would really stick out but the cabin-like building fits into the aesthetic of the site. The only thing that could be negative about the design is the reasons behind it, the artist wanted to blend into the surroundings, which it does to an extent due to the reflection, but when you first look at the building, they look a bit like they should be in space. In my opinion, I would use one-way mirrors so they will still be reflected but would blend in more and will bring the outside in.
