These were:

• To develop the Long Term plan as a series of ‘pavilions in the landscape’ each with their own identity but speaking a common language rather than attempt to create a single building form.
• To reinforce the strong themes of approach and movement through the site, developed by NBW Architects, which provides legibility to visitors and encourages income generation through primary and secondary spend streams.
• To carefully manage views both into the site and from within the site out to the wider arboretum.
• To establish a clear building organisation diagram that improves legibility and facilitates seamless transition between building construction phases.
• To develop a responsible environmental strategy for the development.

To this end, we have developed a scheme that
attempts to reconcile the disparate nature of the
existing buildings by introducing a colonnade to the perimeter of ‘The Square’. We have also increased the height of the existing restaurant space to improve the quality of light and views from the space.

The Remembrance Centre contains the entrance,
interpretation, exhibition space, education centre, office and giving wall. It is entered through the centre of the building, which aligns with the centre of ‘The Square’, terminating at ‘The Meeting Place’, which provides an orientation point over the whole arboretum.

The Armed Forces Pavilion provides banqueting
space for 300-seated people (330 lecture style) plus associated WC, cloakroom and storage provision. In common with the Remembrance Centre it is punctuated from the remainder of the development through the use of rendered and stone facades and by increased height.

The existing visitor centre has been modified to
provide additional, and more legible, restaurant
space, along with a café and retail space.
The crowning glory for the project could be a
canopy that covers The Square providing shelter
for approximately 1000-seated people and 3500
standing. This element of the project sits outside
the £8m budget and is an aspiration that could be developed if sufficient funds are procured.
The glasshouses of Joseph Paxton have provided
historical reference for the integration of engineered canopies with formal architecture.

The initial design ideas conceive the canopy as a series of tree-like structures continuing the avenue of trees leading to the entrance. In this way the canopy mediates between the built and natural environments of the arboretum.

Proposed ground floor plan

Proposed first floor plan