Sutton Hoo Building Woodbridge, National Trust Suffolk, Nissen Richards Studio Architects, English Property Photos
Sutton Hoo Buildings, Woodbridge, Suffolk
4 June 2022
Design: Nissen Richards Studio, Architects
Location: Tranmer House / Sutton Hoo, Woodbridge, Suffolk, south east England, UK

Photos by Gareth Gardner
The Sutton Hoo Buildings are one of 17 projects which received a 2022 RIBA East Award.
Sutton Hoo Buildings, Suffolk, England
Jury Report
With a visitor centre completed less than two decades ago (van Heyningen + Hayward Architects 2003), ?what more does Sutton Hoo possibly need"?, you might ask: well, it needed a tower, and now it has one, in this extremely brave piece of commissioning by the National Trust, who detected a lack in the visitors? ability to appreciate and comprehend this deeply significant historical landscape.
Nissan Richards Studio have proved to be exactly what the doctor ordered in terms of filling in the gaps in the ability to understanding this charged landscape. Their combination of architectural design and interpretive and conservation expertise has allowed them to develop a narrative walk from site entrance through to the burial mounds, while also refreshing the various moments encountered along the way. Their work has involved a refresh of the original visitor centre and its exhibits of elements from the burial mounds, a clearing out and recasting of Tranmer House, the original house on the property, as well as the bold tower, a...