Decorated Shed

An artist’s studio in Scotland by Studio Weave is skinned in embossed zinc

Photos
Johnny Barrington

Sited atop a Victorian rubble wall next to a fast-flowing burn on the west coast of Scotland, Midden Studio is an artist’s studio designed by Studio Weave. The single-storey structure is designed to interact closely with the landscape, mirroring the artist’s long connection to the site and her professional interest in the relationships people have to places.

“Midden Studio is the lovechild of native granite and the local buildings; half a fancy creature with mouldings and gables, half hard, freckled and elemental”, says practice principal Je Ahn. “Recalling simultaneously the nearby vernacular agricultural buildings, the granite rocks that punctuate the landscape, and the flourish of the Scottish Baronial style, the zinc-clad studio silently immerses itself in this ancient landscape, only revealing its details on closer inspection: the cantilever which apparently floats over the burn, the twin gables and the echoed stone mouldings.”

The timber-framed building has a stressed plywood skin that is clad entirely in standing seam zinc. “Structurally the studio has been designed to withstand the extreme conditions of the site and the raw zinc will age with dignity, becoming well-tuned with the landscape over time”, says Ahn. Partly inspired by Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, and Chiesa del Gesu Nuova in Naples, the alternate cross- and diamond-shaped cladding pattern was embossed into the 430mm-wide zinc sheets using a cold-press technique.

The architect spent a lot of time refining the project’s massing and fenestration to eliminate cut panels and retain the geometric purity of the patterned metal skin. The detail design of the cladding was developed in collaboration with the zinc manufacturer and window fabricator. Adaptations of standard, well-practised details and techniques were favoured to avoid challenges on-site. The prefabricated cladding panels were manufactured as a precise kit of parts, and the design of the corniced eaves allowed for any material tolerances to be accommodated on site.