SOUTH EAST ELEVATION
LONG SECTION
COMBE DOWN PEOPLE'S HALL
Situated on the outskirts of Bath, Combe Down is a village-turned- suburb which has lost its own identity. The People’s Hall acts as a community anchor at the junction between the high street and the village green; a space for weddings, funerals, and everything in between.
Drawing on the ‘Maison du Peuple’ typology historically common in France and Belgium, the building includes a range of functions catering to the full breadth of the local community and providing warm public space at all times.
Formally and structurally, it is inspired by the abandoned quarry mines (see image opposite) beneath the site which defined the village for so much of its life. A trabeated stone exoskeleton represents a different classical inheritance to neighbouring Bath (ruled by Palladianism). Here, the material and structure is passed down, while ornament is left to antiquity.