Project Brief: It is a phase of the Lichfield Inspires project and will serve to reinforce the link between the City and its magnificent Cathedral. 

The design put forward is a simple idea comprising a new transparent pavilion that reaches out to Minster Pool.  The building will provide a dramatic, welcoming structure to announce the Cathedral. It intends to integrate a clearly legible 21st-century intervention without compromising the dramatic historic context of the site. It also integrates a number of diverse activities which will enhance the experience of visiting the Cathedral, whilst expanding its educational programme, increasing accessibility and responding to the projected increase in visitor numbers.

The scheme includes a number of innovative, passive measures for heating, cooling and ventilation. The profiled sawtooth roof of the pavilion will provide a platform for solar collectors, as well as allowing daylighting with minimal solar gain. The undulating form of the soffit will also help to create an ambient acoustic environment, whilst maintaining controlled views to the largest of the Cathedral’s three spires. The design approach to the public realm will carefully integrate architecture, landscape, public art and archaeology. The pavilion will also have a partially glazed floor to reveal an ancient Medieval wall.