>A020 The Refectory

Part of an ongoing relationship between the studio and friend of the studio; owner and founder of the Refectory Kitchen, in the historic city of Canterbury.

A phased architectural approach commencing with the self-fabrication of a bespoke storage system and a new servery, greatly increasing the café’s offer.

Our response is a convergence of varying reference streams; that of immediate context, refectory related etymology and both ergonomic and programmatic requirements.

Our installations reflect and reference the skeletal or unadorned nature of the building they inhabit – exposed timbers with brick infill, historical timber wainscotting, original timber floors and a rich, characterful, inglenook fireplace.  Much of the new has been toned to reflect the ‘brickiness’ and general colouring of the environment.

The result is a system of vertical timber fins and horizontal threaded steel rods with precast concrete shelves and storage between.  The new servery continues this visual language of timber skeleton and interest-added infill.  These infills pluralistically make reference to religious confessionaries and nearby historical context.  Here we refer to both the romanesque, and by narrowing the panel, the perpendicular style of Canterbury Cathedral.

An act that reinforces the Refectory’s role in being the place in which you explore from, consciously seeking to remind you of the wider context in which it sits.