Museum Pavilion - completed 2004
Client: St Albans City Council
Budget £1m
The pavilion is to house an in situ Roman mosaic located in a municipal park. The building is designed to make apparent the relationships between the remains of the invisible city beneath the grass, the current activities of the park and the contemporary town of St Albans.
The material construction of the façade uses oyster shell aggregate, a reference to Roman building materials. The tilted mirrored soffit gives glimpsed views both from outside and inside the building and the planted roof relates the building to the surrounding park. The exterior marks out the original footprint of the Roman villa using ramped paths and seating.
muf worked with the client to successfully achieve scheduled monument consent and planning permission in a highly sensitive site. The scheme was awarded a generous Heritage Lottery grant because it made a previously inaccessible monument accessible both within the building itself and the approach over highly sensitive terrain.
