Astley Castle
Astley Castle
Astley Castle burned down 30 years ago, leaving only the foundations, with large parts of the walls collapsing and accelerating decay. A faithful reconstruction was too costly, but the ruins were historically too valuable to be abandoned.
The approach chosen for the restoration was pragmatic, yet poetic. The strategy was to build the new house in the oldest part of the castle and form the extensions from the 15th and 17th centuries as walled courtyards. This preserved the open character of the ruins without attempting to restore completeness.
The conventional arrangement of functions in the house has been reversed: living areas on the first floor, bedrooms and bathrooms on the ground floor. The new rooms occupy only about half of the ruin, while concrete beams with wooden roofs also extend over the two courtyards to stabilize and protect the preserved fragments of the castle from the weather.
The old walls have been framed and supported with new brick masonry. To seamlessly respond to the broken edges of the ruin, an unusually small format of brick has been used. The coal-fired bricks match the reddish and greenish tones of the existing limestone and sandstone, achieving maximum color harmony while clearly distinguishing themselves through their texture.
Handmade ceramic tiles in the entrance hall, kitchen, and bathrooms continue the simple materiality of baked earth and wood, forming a clear and dry connection between the wood lining and the raw stone walls.
Astley Castle burned down 30 years ago, leaving only the foundations, with large parts of the walls collapsing and accelerating decay. A faithful reconstruction was too costly, but the ruins were historically too valuable to be abandoned.
The approach chosen for the restoration was pragmatic, yet poetic. The strategy was to build the new house in the oldest part of the castle and form the extensions from the 15th and 17th centuries as walled courtyards. This preserved the open character of the ruins without attempting to restore completeness.
The conventional arrangement of functions in the house has been reversed: living areas on the first floor, bedrooms and bathrooms on the ground floor. The new rooms occupy only about half of the ruin, while concrete beams with wooden roofs also extend over the two courtyards to stabilize and protect the preserved fragments of the castle from the weather.
The old walls have been framed and supported with new brick masonry. To seamlessly respond to the broken edges of the ruin, an unusually small format of brick has been used. The coal-fired bricks match the reddish and greenish tones of the existing limestone and sandstone, achieving maximum color harmony while clearly distinguishing themselves through their texture.
Handmade ceramic tiles in the entrance hall, kitchen, and bathrooms continue the simple materiality of baked earth and wood, forming a clear and dry connection between the wood lining and the raw stone walls.