In the grounds of Walmer Castle on the UK's Kent coastline, Adam Richards Architects has designed a new learning centre and café that echoes the brooding qualities of the 16th century castle with its sculptural handmade brick walls. Commissioned by English Heritage, which owns the historic site and gardens, it is the first new substantial building built on the site for 145 years.
Walmer Castle was originally built as an artillery fort in 1539-40 during the reign of Henry VIII, and from the 18th century, the Tudor-fortress turned into a stately home for historical figures such as Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill, and HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The popular destination welcomes 3,000 education visitors annually, and needed a dedicated space to host these visiting groups and school pupils where events such as cross-curricular learning days and nature therapy sessions could play out rain or shine.
Architect Adam Richards, who scooped a Wallpaper* Design Award this year for his Nithurst Farm house in the South Downs National Park, responded to the brief with a single storey brick building. Inside, a single main room dedicated to group education features a five-pointed Tudor arc-shaped window that frames a cloud-shaped double row of hedges bordering the kitchen garden. Comfortable in its garden setting, the exterior is discreet and contemporary. Grey brick walls are framed by a shallow pitched zinc roof and a rough concrete plinth, sandblasted to expose the aggregate.
Sensitive to its site and existing architectural additions from the 18th century, the café makes the most of an original timber-framed glasshouse and opens up onto a Yorkstone terrace for coffees and lunches in good weather. Support spaces are housed in a black zinc building with cantilevered roof canopies.
RELATED STORY
Adam Richards, director, Adam Richards Architects, said: ‘This new learning space "bookends" the estate buildings at the castle, entering into a dialogue with the castle across space and across time. The garden is now re-presented to users of the new building through its vitrine window: visitors see it through this vast display case, framed by a new five-pointed brick arched opening.’
Connecting the garden even further to the site, a new outside staircase of galvanised steel clad in air-dried oak leads visitors into a lost quarry garden, the Glen, newly accessible to the public for the first time in 100 years. Here, head gardener Mark Brent has planted species that with thrive in the calcareous soil of the former chalk quarry, and craftsman William Hardie has designed a new children’s play trail.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Walmer Castle and Gardens
Kingsdown road
Walmer
Deal
CT14 7LJ
UK
-
This revamped east London terraced house is a music lover’s dreamAn east London terraced house gets a boost of personality and sustainability thanks to Archmongers, whose transformation makes room for the owners’ creativity and extensive record collection
-
This curvy stovetop espresso maker brings a shot of artistry to your coffee ritual‘The Anticline’ stovetop espresso maker by Cultivation Objects takes its name from a geological formation and wins a Wallpaper* Design Award 2025 for its curves
-
Milan Fashion Week Men’s A/W 2025 highlights: Dolce & Gabbana to Emporio ArmaniDespite a reduced schedule, Milan Fashion Week Men’s arrives this weekend with plenty of intrigue, beginning with high-wattage shows from Dolce & Gabbana and Emporio Armani. Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss reports from Milan
-
This revamped east London terraced house is a music lover’s dream
An east London terraced house gets a boost of personality and sustainability thanks to Archmongers, whose transformation makes room for the owners’ creativity and extensive record collection
-
This elegant infill project slots beautifully into the London streetscapeIn this infill project, a row of garages in Blackheath, south-east London, has been replaced by a contemporary family home by local practice Mailen Design
-
Don’t Move, Improve 2025: the 14 London homes adding design oomph to the everydayThe shortlist for Don’t Move, Improve 2025 has been announced, revealing 14 residential projects across London that add value and pizazz to their inhabitants’ daily lives
-
Space House: explore the brutalist London landmark’s new chapterSpace House, a landmark of brutalist architecture by Richard Seifert & Partners in London’s Covent Garden, is back following a 21st-century redesign by Squire & Partners and developer Seaforth Land
-
Fire-damaged Walworth Town Hall shows off majestic transformationWalworth Town Hall gets a much-needed reimagining by Feix & Merlin, who transformed the heritage building into a contemporary workspace and a hub of its local community in south London
-
Hanif Kara on building materials, the transition from old to new, and a healthy dose of realismHanif Kara, co-founder of structural engineering practice AKT II, discusses building materials and the future of sustainability
-
Year in review: the top 12 houses of 2024, picked by architecture director Ellie StathakiThe top 12 houses of 2024 comprise our finest and most read residential posts of the year, compiled by Wallpaper* architecture & environment director Ellie Stathaki
-
A brutalist garden revived: the case of the Mountbatten House grounds by Studio Knight StokoeTour a brutalist garden redesign by Studio Knight Stokoe at Mountbatten House, a revived classic in Basingstoke, UK
