Inspired by the site’s history, the proposal transforms the 1960s building into a hotel with integrated textile workshops and a public courtyard. It reintroduces textile craft into the city, linked to the rise in ‘art tourism’ and offering ‘burnt out’ office workers a chance rest and engage in creative activities. It also supports contemporary textile artists with residential flats, allowing them to live, work, and teach on site. Flexible, communal textile workshops incorporate spaces for weaving, dyeing, cutting and sewing. The two level gallery displays work of resident artists, while a shop and haberdashery allows for purchase fabrics and handmade pieces.

The hotel is designed for ‘art retreats’, but also caters to guests who prefer to observe the process without participating, with adaptive thresholds between the hotel and workshops.

The ground floor has been opened out and publicly accessible, with planting to link St Alban’s Garden to the greater community and improve the pedestrian experience.

The design was inspired by the process of weaving. It was developed through handmade form finding studies and evolved into an adaptable timber shutter façade.