Meole Brace Peace Memorial Hall
Meole Brace Peace Memorial Hall is a traditional ‘village hall’ serving its community by providing a meeting space for local groups.
The Hall was built in 1921 by public subscription as a memorial to all those in the village who served in the Great War. The concrete wall structure and wooden framed roof is very much ‘of its era’. The building is structurally relatively sound but challenging to maintain and not very welcoming. Over the years it has been well used and much loved, however it is now showing signs of 100 years of regular use.
The Trustees engaged form:form architects after a competitive interview process in 2018 with the brief of ‘Prepare to Refresh’ to revitalise the Hall and to provide a good quality, attractive, affordable and efficient facility principally for local community members, groups and organisations to meet and engage in social, cultural, educational and ‘well-being’ activities. This is in accord with the original intention of the founders of the Hall that it should be a living and actively beneficial memorial.
A new ‘street facing’ welcoming entrance portico and a modest extension allows the proposed accommodation to provide a more flexible series of spaces allowing multiple uses at any one-time, enhanced facilities and fabric make the hall ready for the next 100 years.
The articulation of the massing, the fenestration pattern and use of materials is therefore reflective of a more contemporary appearance of a village hall, as well as providing every opportunity to increase light levels into this building.
Throughout the scheme a consistent approach has been employed to reflect the existing specific typology of a typical village hall and associated ancillary uses building, amended to reflect the particular architectural appearance of such structures in a contemporary form. The proposed materials and colour palette will be of high quality, selected to complement and enhance the character of the development. A restricted material palette will complement the rich heritage context which surrounds the site.
