The Twin Rooms were our competition entry for the design of an outbuilding to support existing artist studios and workshops as part of Hauser & Wirth’s artist residency programme in Somerset, Bruton.
We proposed a shed with two identical rooms. The only difference: one room is open-air, the other has a glass roof. The project presents itself as a bluntly simple form, yet, it gently uncovers a spatial complexity that juxtaposes exterior and interior, openness and retreat. The sameness of both rooms triggers a surreal déjà vu and spatial awareness. Each room is distinct and intentionally absent of any programmatic cues or hierarchical distinction. They are designed to reflect the changing seasons and the imagination of the artist. The proposal plays with the use of simple building components in contrast to the peculiar nature of their composition and repetition.
Each room has two doors and one bench. Mirrored in two directions: one faces east, the other faces south. The open-air room sits adjacent to the main building and connects the garden with the main building and the proposed second room. In contrast to the remaining garden it defines a clear exterior space that can be used for sculpting, painting, reading, gardening, eating and many other uses.
The second room is covered by a translucent roof creating a soft and homogenous light, a felt curtain underneath provides shade in the summer and additional insulation in the winter. This room has a view into the garden and the open-air room, feeling detached from the main building and with a sense of privacy that cannot be found in the existing workshops. Only two fixed appliances differentiate both spaces, giving a domestic scale to the otherwise abstract rooms: one sink in the open-air room and a fire-place in the other.