Britten Pears Archive

Status: 2012
Location: Aldeburgh

Client: Britten Pears Foundation
Value: Confidential

 

“The new Archive will ensure that our unique collection will remain secure in Aldeburgh for posterity. Stanton Williams’ design complements the buildings that Britten and Pears themselves commissioned, notably the Library by Peter Collymore, and we are thrilled that we can now move forward to complete the building in time for Britten’s centenary.”BPF Director Richard Jarman

 

Stanton Williams’ new and sustainable archive building, commissionned by the Britten-Pears Foundation (BPF) will house the extensive collection of music manuscripts, letters, photographs and recordings of the composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears.

The archive will be built on a site adjacent to The Red House in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, the Grade II listed former home of Britten and his partner, Pears. The Foundation aims to complete the project in time for Britten’s centenary in 2013.

Stanton Williams’ design will create a building firmly rooted in its context and appropriate to the listed house and garden, providing optimum environmental conditions for preservation of the significant collection through pioneering low-energy means, achieving a passive archive environment.

The building is expressed as two interlocking forms, reflecting the internal functions. The volume to the north contains the staff offices, support spaces and a study room, with generous windows on the west and north façades allowing views out to The Red House gardens, giving a sense of connection with the site.

The southern volume houses the archive collection, raised from the ground to protect it from flood risk. This functional and efficient concept is based on a tradition of building treasure houses, granary stores and shrines and gives form to the ‘precious’ nature of the collection.

The new archive will bring together this internationally important collection in one central place for the first time in the very place where Britten created his music, improving staff workspace, access and security.

Re-housing the archive will create opportunities to free up space within the existing buildings on the site, most importantly, the composition studio in which Britten worked from 1958 to 1970, and where masterpieces such as War Requiem were written, will be re-created for visitors to experience.

 

Credits
Project Manager: Davis Langdon
Cost Consultant: Davis Langdon
Structural Engineer: Barton Engineers
Services Engineer: Max Fordham
Approved Inspector: BRCS
CDM Coordinator: PFB Construction Management Services Limited