The project brief was to principally extend, refurbish and alter the existing Loyola Centre Church Hall located within the town of Wishaw. The site of the proposed works sits to the South-East of the Grade A listed St. Ignatius RC Church and adjoins an Historic sandstone fragment of a tenement gable wall to the north-west. The townscape of the surrounding area is residential in character with St Ignatius Church forming the local landmark.

By referencing the private language of the church and manse’s walled garden, the new extension will be sensitively surrounded and enclosed by a series of simple walled gardens defining a more private and intermediate set of thresholds between inside and out.

The main architectural approach is based around the idea that the new layer weaves itself through the existing building informed by the materiality and form of the existing church and hall. The dominant form of St. Ignatius RC Church is reflected and reinterpreted in the new structure’s pitched composition with a clear elemental approach to materiality by forming the new element of the proposal singularly in slate.

The layout and interior spaces focuses on the refurbishment and alteration of the existing hall, the creation of a new additional multipurpose space, the creation of new bar and kitchen areas and the reconfiguration of the public toilets. Also, key to the works is a newly implemented efficient boiler plant & services infrastructure. The project tackles ‘Access for All’ improving accessibility, circulation and way-finding throughout the building.