Robin Snell and Partners

Positioned within an existing former Dales Farm in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this small project was designed during the UK’s Covid-19 lockdown. It was factory fabricated as a flat-pack timber enclosure and erected over a three week period in summer 2022 in order to create a new Workshop and Cart Shed.

All materials were sourced and fabricated within a 25 mile radius of the site and erected by the timber structural frame contractor. A local joiner applied the oak cladding and agricultural roofing, assisted by the owner.

The ethos of Enzo Ferrari created one of the most respected brands in the world, well-known for cutting edge design, innovative engineering and style… but how did he achieve this?

This archive charts the history of his way of thinking from his beginnings.

We have designed this archive and all the display furniture around the specific requirements of the objects in one of the world’s leading private collections, with the bespoke design conceived as a reference to Ferrari’s innovation as a design brand.

The practice has produced a booklet outlining the work of Robin Snell and Partners since formation in 1994 until 2018, titled A Work in Progress.

It starts with the early work of Robin Snell at College and with the office of Michael and Patty Hopkins, charting the ideals and modus operandi of the practice through the work of the office to date, as a way of examining the practice’s Design Philosophy.

Copies are available on request

The 600-seat summer Opera Pavilion at Wormsley is situated within a lush pastoral country estate, on a grand scale. It is conceived in the English tradition of a pavilion in the landscape and provides a new home for Garsington Opera. It is designed to be demountable, adaptable and experimental (a ‘pop-up’ rig for opera) and will leave no permanent trace once removed.

Construction of the new pavilion commenced in October 2010 and was completed in seven months. In 2015, the adaptable building was extended to include an enlarged back stage area.

The Phase 1 Lead-in Project opens up the front of house, relocating the box office, creating new bars, a lounge and a display space. The project aims to test design ideas for the future redevelopment, including furniture and materials to capture the spirit of the Edwardian listed building, for the 21^st Century.

It incorporates a series of temporary spaces, including the design of a range of pop-up furniture and re-locatable bars which are hand-made, using pewter and bronze to create forms which are placed as objects in the existing listed interiors.

Future projects will include restoring the original Roman Mosaic Floors throughout, currently hidden beneath the carpet.

The new island pavilion and footbridge, completed in June 2014, are located at the centre of the Wormsley Estate, a pastoral landscape on a grand scale in the heart of the Chiltern Hills near Oxford.

Conceived as a pavilion in the landscape, they reinterpret the classical 18th century English tradition for the 21st century and follow on from the nearby opera house for Garsington Opera which we completed in 2011.

The pavilion is used for entertaining during the summer months of opera and contains ‘Cracked Egg (Blue)’, a stainless steel sculpture by artist Jeff Koons.

This new 300 seat demountable dining facility is located on the Wormsley Estate adjacent to our Garsington Opera Pavilion and overlooking the famous Wormsley cricket pitch. The facility is used by Wormsley Cricket and Garsington Opera annually, along with other events. It was completed in time for the 2015 Summer season.

Lower Vicar’s Barn is located at Wormsley Estate and forms part of the historic Lower Vicar’s Farm complex.

A redundant storage barn constructed in 1730, the project has been to restore and fit out the historic listed structure to create a studio space.

The design strategy, accepted by the conservation officer, has been to restore and repair the historic oak frame and external cladding and insert new windows and 21st Century elements within, to contrast the old with the new.

A Masterplan for the redevelopment of a backland sports field into a Community Sports Centre and Junior Tennis Centre. Planning Permission for Phase 1 of the Masterplan has been received: In the first phase, a rapidly erectable and cost effective Junior Tennis Coaching centre is established which will have 3 indoor covered and 5 outdoor acrylic surface courts.

Subsequent phases expand the indoor courts to six in a more permanent structure and involve the construction of outdoor grass courts. Ultimate phases will see the construction of indoor and outdoor cricket nets and space for softball.

The new structure for Norfolk County Council’s Department of Education represents the first completed stage of the development strategy to enhance the Whitlingham Country Park’s educational and recreational potential, an ongoing project since 2006.

The Centre is designed to fit into an overall vision for the Country Park, working with a new visitor centre to promote further development of the 280 acres of parkland which forms the gateway to the Norfolk Broads National Park.

The new spa resort of Acquarossa is located on a dramatic promontory within the Blenio Valley, at the heart of the proposed Adula National Park.

It will provide a medical spa, indoor and outdoor pools, treatment and relaxation spaces, gymnasia, hotel suites and apartments with associated facilities, restaurants and a conference facility for up to 300 people.

The project has been well received by the residents of the valley and the authorities, and was granted ‘Piano Particolareggiato PRP3’, planning permission in 2014.

A state of the art office and retail building for showcasing and retailing Porsche sports cars in the Chinese city of Qingdao in conjunction with Porsche Stuttgart that reflects the performance and technology based ethos of one of the world’s leading car manufacturers.

The design is driven by the ideology of the high performance sports car. A responsively performing facade system integrates the building’s structure, cladding and environmental design to provide column free internal office spaces arranged around a central atrium and service cores. The intent is that the branding of the product is reflected in the design of the building as a local landmark and a point of reference within the City.

Arnolfini is a unique organisation and a national focus for multi-disciplinary experimental art. It has been housed in a Grade II* listed warehouse on Bristol’s historic quayside since 1975. Our brief was to substantially remodel the interior spaces to improve the building’s legibility, provide greater variety of gallery spaces and to ensure accessibility for all.

The project was undertaken in collaboration with artist Susanna Heron. The project secured funding from the Arts Council of England in addition to other charitable trusts and private donations.

The Penthouse is situated on the eighth floor of a 1930s residential apartment block located in Knightsbridge and commands spectacular views over Hyde Park. The works included the substantial refurbishment of the external envelope and complete reconfiguration of the internal arrangement.

The client was looking for an apartment of exceptional quality and contemporary design. Our solution was to propose a ‘yacht in the sky’ filled with bespoke furniture and joinery, including a ‘world first’ carbon fibre sofa, called ‘snofa’.

This project addresses the relationship between new and old on an extremely sensitive site on the banks of the River Thames. The new stadium received enthusiastic responses from the RFAC, Cabe and English Heritage, who supported the need to alter and demolish Grade II listed buildings on the site based on the quality of what was to replace them. The scheme gained Planning Permission in 2002 following the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment (E.I.A), which involved repositioning a 120m stretch of the river Thames embankment. The site is at the junction of three Conservation Areas, containing listed buildings, a listed park, and on the opposite riverbank is an area of Special Scientific Interest.

The extension and foyer gallery to the Surrey Institute of Art and Design is a contemporary steel, glass and fabric pavilion which provides a simple shop window for the James Hockey Gallery. It acts as a beacon to engage and attract the public, by providing a visually and physically transparent enclosure.

The building is designed to be visually and physically accessible and inviting. In contrast with a conventional art gallery, it becomes part of the Borelli Gardens by enabling clear views to and from the landscape.

This was our first project – A new entrance to an architect’s office.

The thinking behind the design of this project influenced subsequent projects, including the Northern Architecture Centre and the New Foyer for the Surrey Institute of Art and Design.

Robin Snell was the Project Architect and Design Team Leader for this award-winning project as Associate Director at Michael Hopkins and Partners.

It was a significant landmark project for the office and featured the extensive use of traditional materials to create a modern building, such as hand-made load bearing bricks using traditional lime mortar with no expansion joints and the use of traditional rolled lead roofing over prefabricated plywood roofing panels – refreshing the large scale use of these materials in the 21^st Century.

Following its completion Michael Hopkins commissioned Robin’s office, the newly formed Snell Associates, to design his new light-weight office entrance pavilion to his office in Broadley Terrace.

Bracken House is the old Financial Times building designed by Sir Albert Richardson adjacent to St.Paul’s Cathedral and was Michael Hopkins first new-build urban office project close to the heart of the City of London. The project resulted from winning a limited competition for a new building on the site. It was decided to keep the Richardson end wings and replace the central printing works with a new elliptically shaped office building.

Robin was project Associate in charge of the technical detailing of the building and later leading the internal fit-out works for the Industrial Bank of Japan.

Robin worked with Michael and Patty Hopkins on the development of the Masterplan for the Museum, with the Vision of safeguarding the future of the Museum entitled, “Towards the Millennium”.

This formed the strategic masterplan for the entire South Kensington Site to allow it to better display its collection and improve visitor experiences, revealing the splendour of the original finishes and materials of the listed buildings for the first time, previously covered over under Government PSA Stewardship.

The specific projects undertaken by Robin include; Gallery 47, the Far Eastern Gallery and the Indian Gallery, plus the Raphael Cartoon Court. Robin designed the first all glass display cabinets in the museum for these projects.

Following his Thesis, Robin joined the small emerging office of Michael Hopkins to work on the detailed design of the Schlumberger Building in Cambridge and became site architect for its construction, living for part of the week close to the site.

The building houses a variety of types of space; private offices for individual study, open discussion areas for groups of scientists, laboratories, and the Test Station, for testing Oil Drilling Technology. The hub of the building, the winter garden is a gathering place, restaurant and library or the whole centre.

The project is the first large scale use of Fabric Roof Technology in the UK.

This project takes as its site the run-down area of London Docklands in 1979 and assesses the Victorian idea of a transport “Gateway” to the City.  The project explores transport infrastructure as the first step for a large scale urban re-development and combines innovative technological ideas to land aircraft on an elevated runway to free-up the area beneath for commercial use.

The steel, fabric and magnesium design is a completely prefabricated and demountable structure capable of renewal, addition and removal over time, a recurring theme which Robin has developed throughout his future practice.