Clay college has moved into the Grade 2 listed Prince of Wales studio on the Middleport Pottery site. This has been made possible partly due to the support and time that has been kindly given by award winning Architect Adam Cornish of Studio Partington Architects.
This not only provided the plans to support the development of the college building but it also allowed the trustees of Adopt a Potter and the Middleport Pottery UKHBT college to envisage the work that needed to be done; how the building would work as a full time college space.
The plans made sense of how the buildings space could be maximised to be a fully functionally pottery and college. The most important area that was designed from scratch and that was added to the building is the mezzanine library space. This increased the space within the building allowing it to fulfill all of the purposes required of the building. This added a higher levels to the back room. Not only does this divide this room into a guest studio/breakout space and office but it also manages to provide a quiet research space and much needed storage. It has turned this into a truly multipurpose space and met the criteria required for the listing of the building by sitting within the space without permanent fixing.
The next step is to add the many books that have been donated by and purchased due to the support of the wider pottery community. Thankyou Adam and Studio Partington as without your support the college would not be in the position it is today.
