This fortress like studio sits within the grounds of Ansty Plum house. Designed by Alison and Peter Smithson as a hide-out for the client’s children, this building had been empty for many years and had become derelict. The building had been designed as an outhouse and had no insulation. Coppin Dockray tanked the building, added ground drains, re-built the timber structure and replaced the zinc roof following the original designs. The walls, floor and roof were insulated behind warm douglas fir panels designed with a nod to the original Smithson’s design. An extension containing a concrete shower room and joinery for storage is hedged into a mossy bank.