re-presentation

Mission church - a faithful approach to design

We are pleased to announce that we have received planning permission for the conversion of Mission Church, Paxford into a two-bedroom, holiday let.

‘Mission Church’ was initially constructed as an Infant School for 100, in an ecclesiastical style and was used for Church services very shortly after. In 1886, the building became a National School, spreading the Mission of the Church and promoting education to the poor.

The design retains a significant part of the Nave and the view of the Chancel from the entrance. New bedroom accommodation is provided in a mezzanine pod toward the west end of the Nave and in the old classroom.  Existing features such as the exposed rafters, the classroom door, stained glasses, polychrome panels and graffitied plaster are to be retained and conserved.

The design incorporates the latest in technological innovations. Retaining the open plan arrangement with a kitchen between the main living spaces and the only fire exit was the primary design challenge. The solution has been to install an Automist smart scan system, a system which provides an alternative solution to a traditional sprinkler system. The cost of the system is £5000 ex VAT and is cost neutral in contrast with the comparable work of installing new partitions and fire doors.

Mary Somerville back at the heart of Walton House, Somerville College.

Departing Principal Dr Alice Prochaska had long wished to see the former JCR in the oldest part of the College, Walton House restored as a quality interior deserving of an Oxford College. The Mary Somerville Room a contemporary - period restoration of the old Dining Hall.

James Mackintosh was appointed by Treasurer Andrew Parker to transform the room into a very elegant well-proportioned space in a periodically sensitive way.

The aim of the project was to restore the space to how the Hall appeared in 1901 – its finest period of decoration. However, a true arts and crafts interior would have been heavy and masculine – in contrast later dates would have been too domestic. The brief for the detail developed with college archivist, Anne Manuel, was ‘classical with a hint of arts and crafts’.