A little piece of heaven on earth

14/11/2011 Written by: Gill sincock No comments

A magnificent medieval monument to heaven on earth, world famous Bath Abbey has experienced a fascinating and illustrious past. Now, following its role as host for the recent Power in Space 2011 conference the Cathedral and many other historic buildings can look forward to an equally exciting and varied future.

Prior to the staging of the international conference the gothic interior of the Abbey was transformed by a series of interventions, which ranged from Caroline Broadhead’s installation across the main aisle of the Abbey to artist Candy Verney’s exploration, along with event delegates, of sound in this vast space.

Sponsored by Buro Happold and architects Feilden Clegg Bradley, Power in Space explored how historic spaces can be transformed for contemporary culture. Designers, planners, directors and artists from around the country discussed their experiences of how the innovative re-use of existing buildings can change both their value and invigorate their local communities, with a particular focus on providing uplifting cultural and performance spaces. An inspiring variety of approaches to creative reuse were added to the mix, including a number of instances of space creation that many clients never thought possible. Jo Garbett, structural engineer at Buro Happold commented on how “much of the debate was focused around how historic buildings can be used to add a sense of drama and transience to performance spaces. The Stratford’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre, one of our recently completed projects showed just how this principle can work in practice”.

As Bath was the setting for the conference, one of the topics discussed was whether there was potential to sustain and develop the City’s historic buildings to meet the challenges of economic and environmental change, and if so, what where the creative solutions that could be used to deliver this?

Peter Clegg, Senior Partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley and Mike Cook, Senior Partner at Buro Happold gave the closing presentations of the day. Cook discussed innovative solutions for bringing historic buildings into the 21st century, including a case study showing how the British Museum Great Court roof was transformed. He then summed up the day saying that creative re-use could breathe life into historic buildings, creating exciting and sustainable spaces for many years to come.

The conference was organised by Buro Happold and architects Feilden Clegg Bradley, who are currently exploring how Bath Abbey can develop sustainably in the future and continue to provide a cultural focus for World Heritage site, Bath.