Piers Taylor reads from the Introduction of his new bool – Learning from the Local
A new film exploring the genesis of House in an Olive Grove by Invisible Studio (Film Jim Stephenson)
A new film coming soon exploring Jørn Utzon’s Can Lis in Mallorca
A film by Jim Stephenson describing the process of building the new community shelter at Westonbirt Arboretum with local groups with learning differences
A film made by Lily Taylor Phillips for an exhibition in Bordeaux where locals, residents and the initiators of East Quay, Watchet were interviewed by Georgie Grant and Piers Taylor.
East Quay: Accommodation Pods
A new film made by Lily Taylor Phillips describing the accommodation pods at East Quay that are now available for rent,
East Quay, Watchet: A Film by Jim Stephenson with Piers Taylor & Georgie Grant
Watch Piers Taylor (Invisible Studio) and Georgie Grant (Onion Collective CiC) discuss their project at East Quay in Watchet, Somerset – designed by Invisible Studio, with Ellis Williams Architects acting from RIBA stage 4. The project creates a new cultural hub for the town and surrounding area. Commissioned and run by Onion Collective CIC, a local female-led not-for-profit social enterprise, the new centre will feature two contemporary art galleries, 11 artist studios, a paper mill, a geology workshop, print studio, restaurant, education space and five accommodation pods arranged across the top of the building.
The centre draws inspiration from both the built environment and the natural landscape. A solid plinth reflects the harbour wall and nearby cliffs, containing the reception, main gallery space, restaurant and artists’ studios. External stairs lead up to the upper level which connects directly to coastal paths, allowing East Quay to become a porous object that can be climbed, traversed and explored. The ground-floor restaurant opens out onto a new public space where local people and visitors alike can sit and enjoy views back into town as well as the ships in the dock and the sea beyond.
A series of characterful and idiosyncratic structures site above the base, referencing the eclectic and often unusual buildings within Watchet. These are clad in simple robust materials as a nod to the industrial nature of the harbour and the activity it contains. The larger elements contain workshops for makers and artists, as well as the Creator Space – a unique learning environment developed by Year 8 students from local schools working alongside architects PEARCE+Faegan and environmental psychologist Helen King.
Five pods have been created, two of which stand on stilts above the building, that can be booked by adventurous travelers, providing an unusual form of tourism for the area. The interiors, also designed by architect-makers PEARCE+Faegan, each reflect Watchet in some way; including an Object Exchange pod, Stories and Imagination pod, a Luxury Industrial pod, a Playful pod and a Participatory Art Pod.
A new short made by Jim Stephenson film narrated by Piers Taylor describing Invisible Studio’s recently completed House with Courtyards in Cornwall, UK. See more images HERE
A new film – What Does It Take to Make a Building’ is the second in a series of intimate portraits filmed by Jim Stephenson with Piers Taylor in conversation with an architect, where they reflect on their practice, ideas, influences, education and future, through the lens of one of their seminal buildings. This new film focusses on Sarah Wigglesworth who talks to Taylor about studying architecture at Cambridge in a context where women architects were rarely mentioned, and the development of her socially and environmentally minded practice which has been mainly lived out in her ground breaking house and studio ’Stock Orchard Street’. Stock Orchard Street demonstrates the application of numerous experimental and prototypical ideas, and Wigglesworth discusses how designing and building the project more than 20 years ago with Jeremy Till and living and working in it since has helped shape a belief that architecture can be a powerful force for change where political ideals can be set out in material ways.
A discussion between Piers Taylor and Sarah Wigglesworth where they reveal their changing ambitions and priorities for the way their own self built houses operate and perform.
A film that describes the mode of practice of Invisible Studio in their woodland home
A film that describes the deep retrofit of ‘Moonshine’, Piers Taylor’s award winning house
A film that describes the building of the relocatable micro-house ‘Trailer’
A film of Studio in the Woods 2017
A film of Studio in the Woods 2018
A film of Studio in the Woods 2019
A film of Piers Taylor in conversation with Gianni Botsford