HLN were appointed by Evannance Invesment Co, to design and deliver the conversion of an existing grade II listed building. Our response was to design a new Café Quarter for Aberystwyth. The original building dates from 1874 and extended in 1911. Our scheme removes later building extensions to return the school buildings as closely as possible to their 1911 arrangement and the interior classroom spaces have been arranged to create six new café or restaurant spaces of varying size. The building interiors have been re-shaped and stripped back to its original interior in readiness for fit-out by restaurant and café tenants. Externally a new courtyard has been designed to encourage public movement through and use of this space. A tree-lined pedestrian route has been arranged through the site to connect with the public realm of the adjacent railway station to the east and to retail to the west. Outdoor seating areas enable restaurant and café seating and dining areas to extend to the outside and to contribute to the sense of place which has been the focus of our design.
