Entrance Court, Entrance Building, what needs doing, what don’t I understand. The external Facade is Soane’s work, quite different from the original treatment by Sampson. The internal elevation, facing into the courtyard is essentially Sampson, but Taylor must have glazed the side bays at ground floor level. His East Wing allowed the Transfer Offices to move out from the upper floors, which were then converted to residential apartments. Behind the new ground floor glazing there kitchens and parlours at one side, a porter’s lodge at the other.
I added rustication to the ground floor of this inner Facade, giving equal weight to horizontals and verticals. These are loadable, wall-hosted families. Just a stick-on veneer. Maybe we will rethink that later, but for now it’s a quick fix.
Externally, Soane chose to disguise the vertical joints. I’ve created new wall types with a series of horizontal reveals. The joints are diverted where they pass over the three entrance arches, creating a…