Done in collaboration with Hughes Meyer Studio, this project has been described as a contemporary reinvention of a traditional gentleman’s smoking room/library, different volumes combine multiple functions; providing different environments within which to store, display and contemplate art. By extending the pitch of the original workshop roof, the wedge-shaped glazed volume provides strong visual links to the main house beyond so that, with most of the volume visible from the first floor living room balcony, house and art space connect across the garden, enabling the artist to view his work from near or far. Despite it’s simplicity, a surprising and curious theatrical twist lies in wait. Continuing the surreal nature of the space’s visual qualities, where reflected views challenge perception and blue reality, where soffit becomes lawn and fascia becomes sky, the function of the space also begins to blur. With two sculptural installations - a mirrored box and a ceramic limpet-like blob- art space becomes spa with self contained sauna and steam room. Just as shifted perspective and multiple reflections challenge the mews’ spatial logic, as focal lengths double and apparently massive surfaces float, so inclusion of the treatment facilities contradicts the conventional logic of the mews as a place for art. No longer read as a commercial art space, but instead as somewhere that immediately becomes specific to the occupation of the artist. With private bathing added to the mix, boundaries are blurred between private and public rituals.......a very peculiar, but nonetheless charming wonderland in which to escape. Extract from the Architectural Review, February 2005, by Rob Gregory Photo copyright Sue Barr