Munkenbeck + Marshall

1999

Roche Court Sculpture Gallery for Lady Bessborough, Salisbury

Roche Court is a Grade II listed building constructed for Lord Nelson in 1806. The setting is used as a sculpture park containing works by the most famous sculptors of the 20th century, including Anthony Gormley, Allen Jones and Barbara Hepworth. The brief was to build a sculpture gallery against the kitchen garden wall that runs between the house and the orangery. This is a working gallery, not a museum: all the art is for sale. The jury viewed the solution devised by the architects as ‘…a sublime essay in calm modernism, happy in its historic context. The clever cross-section in both directions results in a roof which is as visually light as possible. Although a small project, this is Architecture with a big A. The new gallery demonstrates why proportion and quality of execution are the chief criteria in the debate about contextualism. In a setting where it would have been easy to resort to reproduction or pastiche, the client instead commissioned an example of sensitive contemporary architecture that cannot be bettered.’

“Commissioned when Madeleine Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough decided to move her London Gallery to her family home, this sculpture gallery links the main house and the orangery along an existing garden wall. It was conceived as a seamless connection not only between these two buildings but also between inside and out, allowing a clear dialogue between garden sculpture and gallery sculpture.”

Munkenbeck + Marshall
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Ian Ritchie Architects