With a slender but sturdy timber and metal structure, the famous 13th century York landmark of Clifford’s Tower has been re-imagined for English Heritage, opening up hitherto inaccessible views and rooms and transforming the experience for an increasing number of visitors.
Our solution places four timber columns inside the tower to support a timber roof deck, from which new stairs and walkways are suspended. In this way the ancient limestone walls are protected but light and weather can still permeate the ruin through a large square aperture in the roof.
The new walkways give access to first floor rooms inside the tower that have not been viewed for centuries, while the generous roof deck offers panoramic vistas of the historic city of York.
It includes a modest amphitheatre with stepped seating which helps to hide the deck from view when seen from the Eye of York at street level. To avoid any impact on the tower, the pillars are supported on a new concrete slab, which spreads the load evenly and protects buried archaeology.
This represents a new age of intellectual clarity and sensitivity of British contemporary architecture
Chris Dyson, Architecture Today
Significant public realm improvements include three resting places up the steps to the tower as well as a new public plaza created at the base, which features a bronze timeline and a relief map that charts the tower’s evolution.
Care and craftsmanship are evident throughout, from the smooth oak handrails and joinery on the roof deck to the painstaking work by stonemasons. They repaired two stone staircases, adding new elements where necessary, and then connecting them to the roof deck with new metal steps, thus returning ancient circulation routes back to use.
During the scheme’s seven-year gestation, we liaised closely with the client, with Historic England and local stakeholders, and with conservation architect Martin Ashley Architects who oversaw important repairs to the building.
A pioneering example of how to do a light-touch intervention on a historic monument
Teshome Douglas-Campbell, Architects’ Journal
Process
Site plan
Lower level plan
Walkways plan
Roof deck plan
Cross section
