For this project I have been asked to refurbish a former chapel (currently operating as the Mariners Gallery) in St. Ives, Cornwall.  It is owned and run by the St. Ives Society of Artists who have a rich history in the town.  Culturally St. Ives is important because of its modernist art scene, whilst the building relates to the fishing community that once surrounded it before the town was gentrified. 

 

I will need to investigate rehabilitation and conversion ideas for this building to accommodate a new function and customer base.  Any design proposals need to be sensitive to the architecture of the building as well as acknowledging the cultural impact of the St. Ives Society of Artists to the town.  This will be about revealing both the heritage and the story of this space rather than obliterating it.

The space is to be remodeled as a boutique hotel very small and select. 

I will need to consider how the new commercial function (of a boutique hotel) responds to a building and location. To understand what a ‘boutique’ hotel is and how a hotel functions.  The interior needs to accommodate the main public spaces associated with a hotel e.g. reception, foyer, lounge/bar/cafe, toilet facilities, guest bedrooms and bathrooms. To rethink the circulation route from the basement, ground to the first. To create a unique interior experience for the guest that would guarantee returning business by considering carefully how the new function of the hotel ‘sits’ within the historic shell of the chapel and gives the interior personality.