Branksome Conference Centre

Branksome Conference Centre

Country house, now conference centre. Built in 1901 by E J May, with later Edwardian additions. The building was altered between 1971 and 1972 by Edward Cullinan and extended between 1971 and 1972 by James Stirling, both architects working for the Olivetti International Education Centre. Originally known as Hilders, it formerly housed Messrs Olivetti's training school.

The original May building is constructed of brick over a ground floor of random stone, with tile-hanging and some timber work, beneath a tiled roof. It is a large house of irregular plan, featuring a crescent-shaped entrance front and two side wings to the right which form a courtyard with an attached former stable range. The building is two storeys with attics, and includes dormers inserted by Cullinan during the later alterations.

End and centre bays project under gables, with the central bay being narrower. The attic and first floors oversail these projections. At the left and centre, the projecting bays are half-timbered; at the right, they are tile-hung. Large casement windows feature throughout, some with mullions and leading. The first floor on the left and centre has canted oriels with pargetting beneath. A wide central open wood porch marks the entrance. The tall tiled roof has deep eaves soffit and dormers inserted by Cullinan.

The south-west garden front is of similar design with five bays. The interior features a large drawing room with a decorative plaster ceiling and glazed tiles, which also appear in the entrance hall. A bar with a decorative ceiling is present. Ground floor rooms behind the garden front serve as dining rooms, one containing a large and elaborate painted plaster fireplace. Behind these spaces, Cullinan inserted a new reception area, hall and staircases into the former service yard, linking to the converted stables. The upper floors and linked stables were converted by Cullinan into classrooms and study bedrooms.

From the reception area, a glazed link extends to a classroom wing designed by James Stirling. This addition is constructed of Glass Reinforced Polyester and glass in shades of ochre and cream, with only a curve denoting the transition from walls to roof. It is formed of identical units, each incorporating a rectangular window, with some timber panels over doors. The wing is two storeys but sits much lower in the landscape on the sloping site than May's original house. The glass conservatory is slightly concave in section and contains ramps leading up or down to wings of classrooms and down to a level lecture theatre set in the angle of the right-hand wing.

The conservatory and corridors are painted Stirling's characteristic lime green, with full-height vertical radiators also in lime green set against a lilac frame. A spiral staircase occupies one end. The lecture room is divisible into four sections by full-height partitions and features a curved timber screen separating it from the central hallway, with timber steps continuing the division when the screen is opened. The classrooms are divisible by timber partitioning. The upper floor has clerestorey glazing on the inner face and rooflights to the spinal corridor. Staircases at the end of each wing lead to exit doors.

This building holds significant importance in the career of James Stirling (1926–92), marking a shift away from the heavy Brutalist brick aesthetic of his early work towards a more classically-inspired post-modern tradition with international character. It is also important in the development of Glass Reinforced Polyester as a sophisticated building material in England, being the major building by a major architect to be constructed in GRP in Britain. The principal spaces are richly designed and survive virtually unaltered.