This is our Current Latest Design. This elevation, (click to enlarge) designed by Jakub Wihan of Straw Works, shows the new building looking from the West. The church is on the far left with the link to it behind the kitchen. There are rooms in the roof space with windows on the North side. The south roof will be covered with solar panels. The internal dimensions of the main hall are about 8 x 20m.
The main entrance, stairs and lift are at the East End. At the West End on the ground floor is a toilet block, with the rest of it given over to a large Lower Hall. You can see these in the Ground Floor Plan below
Here you can see the link to the church, which will have natural light through the roof. It will not be tied into the stonework of the church, but sit against the wall with a weather-proof cowl. To the left of the link, with a large servery to the hall is our kitchen.
In the Apse (East End) is our main entrance, main stairs and lift. Access will be through the church car park and gate, which is not shown in this picture. Because of the slope of the land, we will be able to dig out a small store underneath the Apse. It will not be as big as is shown in this picture.
Running over the central portion of the hall, supported by the roof beams is a line of three Upper Rooms, with large store cupboards between them. The Upper Rooms average about 6m x 3.5m each. At the end of the connecting corridor, at the West End, are a couple of upstairs toilets (including disabled).
Because of the risk that these upper rooms might make the hall feel dark and low-ceilinged, the walls of the lower hall will be 4m high (10 bales). As you can see from the elevation above, this also allows a good amount of natural light into the lower hall, both in the summer and winter.
We hope that this building can be built on packed car-tyre foundations, but this depends on nature of the ground. Unfortunately, the foundations of the old hall are still in place, and there may even be a significant about of old rubble. Click link to see a picture of the old hall plan superimposed on a previous sketch of the new one.
In Jakub’s drawing here, the foundations are covered by a painted timber plinth. In the entrance way, you can see a tree trunk. We hope this might be one of the sycamores we will have to fell in order to make room for our new building.