Yoga Studio | Invisible Studio

The new Yoga Studio at the Newt Hotel in Somerset is the third building at the Hotel completed by Invisible Studio and is a complementary building to both the Gym (Room in a Productive Garden)  to which it sits adjacent, and the Beezantiu (both on Archdaily). While the Gym had a single view of the vegetable garden via its enormous window, the Yoga Studio has a single view of the sky via its enormous 11m rooflight, made from a single insulated double-glazed unit. The yoga studio is lined entirely in beech slats, providing a warm and immersive sanctuary like space that allows users to focus on the embodied experience of yoga. The Yoga studio use same rammed stone as the Gym, made from local limestone that gives it its distinctive red colour. The copper detailing also borrows from the family of materials established by the Beezantium.

The rammed stone external skin is a particular feature. The mix is coloured only by using local ‘Hadspen’ limestone, which has a distinctive red hue, which is crushed from 45mm to dust.

"The rammed stone external skin is something we get asked about a good deal, particularly with no roof overhang. The mix is coloured only by using local ‘Hadspen’ limestone, which has a distinctive red hue, which is crushed from 45mm to dust. There is no sand added – just a small amount of binder which in this case is lime/GGBS/Cement. We have used the Material Science Lab at the University of Bath for testing numerous mixes, and we have experimented extensively with just using lime, but the curing process means the shuttering has to stay up much longer and it also hard to get the strength required. Pete Walker – an engineer at the University – is a rammed earth expert and has been incredibly helpful. The walls are set out using a 600mm lift, with approx. 4-6 ‘pour’ layers in every lift. The stone was all mixed on site, and poured bucket by bucket into the formwork. There are stainless steel tubes in the wall to ventilate a cavity behind, which is formed using Surecav. The external skin is tied back through the surecav to a ply sheathing fixed to an internal studwork wall. The roof membrane is dressed over the parapet at the top to protect it, but held back an inch or so from the edge to conceal it. The exposed portion is then protected by a shelter coat".
Piers Taylor