Blake

MICA Architects have developed a holistic masterplan for the restoration of William Blake’s Cottage and its gardens, combining careful conservation with new architectural interventions to support public engagement, learning and creative production.

Our team were appointed in 2017 by the Blake Cottage Trust following a design competition and our scope has included architectural, conservation, landscape and have undertaken original historic research to inform the proposals.

The project restores and reinterprets the Grade II listed cottage through research-led conservation, reversing later alterations where appropriate and revealing significant historic features. A working print studio is reintroduced, reconnecting the building to Blake’s artistic practice and opening new opportunities for interpretation and education.

The two new pavillions in the large gardens provide a gallery & convening space; a library & study and a scholars residence. The main pavillion is conceived as a series of spaces framed by deep flint garden walls concealing the building and slowly unveiling the interior. Inside, the main space is capped with a floating parabola whose geometry casts sharp acute shadows on the interior. Light is conversely emitted from the raking glazed clerestoreys. A large picture-window frames views to the cottage across new landscaped kitchen gardens.

The project exemplifies a heritage-led cultural scheme, with architecture, conservation and landscape working together to safeguard Blake’s legacy while creating flexible, future-facing spaces. Developed through extensive consultation with statutory bodies and stakeholders, the proposals support the Blake Cottage Trust’s ambition to establish the site as a centre for creativity, imagination and scholarship, linked to Blake’s other surviving London residence.