Kielder reservoir, opened in 1982, is the largest man-made lake in Europe and is surrounded by the largest man-made forest in Britain. The area currently attracts over half a million visitors a year to participate in a number of sporting and wildlife-orientated activities, but currently has a somewhat basic visitors' centre.
The project brief was to relocate the centre and house additional activities such as teaching areas and gallery space. The design emphasises the juxtaposition of human and natural so clearly suggested by the site: a submerged road from the flooded village of Falstone beneath acts as a catalyst for the design, which suggests a re-emergence of an angular, yet organic, man-made architectural form, rising out and responding to the waters edge.
