Bath Spa University: Herman Miller Building (Action Factory)

Client: Bath Spa University
Location: Bath
Discipline(s):

Bath Spa University is rejuvenating the Grade II Listed Herman Miller Building, which is a vacated former furniture manufacturing site, for use by the Bath School of Art and Design.

This project involves the adaptation of the existing Herman Miller, Bath factory into an academic building for Bath School of Art & Design (BSAD).

The building is Grade II listed and required the permission for change of use from industrial to academic. The building, which is the former location of furniture manufacturers Herman Miller, is situated on the Locksbrook Road Industrial Estate in Bath. The firm moved out in 2015 because the building no longer met their needs and it has remained vacant since.

The proposed Action Factory will offer a significant amount of new accommodation and will be one of the most accessible locations of the BSU campus. The BSAD is currently spread over a number sites in and around Bath and so incorporating the school into a singular location will create a holistic, collaborative identity - allowing the students to visit a single site rather than many. Grimshaw Architects has already worked up designs to demonstrate how the proposals will capture the original 1970s brief to be a ‘flexible and adaptive building,’ and how it will add to the beautiful riverside setting.