Preview: The Assembly Rooms by Annecy Attlee

Elements of church buildings from the Ilderton Road / Ormside street area are imagined as archaeological finds amongst the layered arches of the viaduct: how might the architecture be
specific to the communities it serves, and carry familiarity and memory? What is the nature of an architecture that might survive as a ruin in a thousand years?

How might the existing railway arches on the site be occupied, and what relationship will they have to the central space? Might the arches begin to represent the aisles and side chapels of a traditional Gothic cathedral (in this case, that of Ely).

The largest and most dramatic Assembly Room is located at the centre of the site.

The aisles of the eastern-most Assembly Room are evenly balanced with the ‘nave’. This gives ample room for gatherings and fabrication to spill out from the churches and maker spaces located in the arches.

The varying section of the third Assembly its skylights, which can then create dramatic Room changes the orientation and angle of lighting in the space below throughout the day.

Ground floor plan and site section.