The River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, about 50miles west of London.

This is one of my favorite buildings that I know almost nothing about. I've also never been to see it. I was hoping that by starting this thread we might collectively fill in some of the gaps and post some more pictures, plans and drawings.

Google location map (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.532554,-0.893385&spn=0.1,0.1&q=51.532554,-0.893385) (zoomable)


information from SWANK-E's trip

How to get there:
From Oxford, you can catch the Bus X39 which runs hourly between Henley and Oxford, departing from the streets around Carfax Tower in Oxford (can't remember exactly where, but you'll find it)

Admission
£3 (£2.50 students); including entrance to the Wind & the Willows galleries £6 (£5 students)

Opening Hours
Jan-Apr 10am-5pm daily; May-Aug 10am-5.30pm daily; Sep-Dec 10am-5pm daily

Links
David Chipperfield architects (http://www.davidchipperfield.co.uk/)
Museum website (http://www.rrm.co.uk/home.aspx) which is distinguished by its almost complete lack of images of the building itself
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_and_Rowing_Museum)

The building (image from architects website)

another view
(image from architects website)

The description from the architects website

The green oak cladding was an innovatiion and has now weathered down to a much darker colour than I had imagined (can anyone confirm this?)
(image from wikepedia media commons)

interior images
(images from architects website)

interior2

another (image from architects website)

another image this time copyright Jaap Oepkes and for the Museum

These photos were from my january 2005 visit.

This is how it appears as you walk from the town of Henley-on-Thames towards the museum.

It seems to be a popular weekend get-away place for families.

the junction between the 2 parts of the building where you have to walk through to get to the other side where the entry stair is (the sunny side), although it does have an entry ramp from this side too.

another view of the same space.

to the left is the museum proper with the double 'gable' roofs. to the right is the more rectalinear part of the museum

still in the shaded side, you can see how the building touches the 'ground' and the vegetation surrounding it. that is why you are made to cross that junction space rather than walk straight up to it.

now on the sunny side but back towards where the rectalinear wing of the building looking towards the double gable part.

that maintenance shed is not meant to be there normally!

detail and composition

entry ramp on the shaded site, bridging over the vegetation

opposing that ramp on the sunny side are the steps with courtyard in front of it. the building does not appear to hover on this side but rather an inviting one.

once inside in the foyer, you are greeted by the shop, the cafe, the entry cash register (all on the ground floor) and then some of these vertical circulation spaces that link to the exhibition spaces upstairs.

the detailing and the material composition is very similiar to that of Wagamama Soho (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1032), also by Chipperfield. the deterioration is also similiar.

main exhibition spaces. they are inward looking spaces

towards the end of these volumes you do get views out to the landscape and the river beyond.

the bridging between the gables volume to the rectalinear volume

view out to the shaded side.

and more exhibition spaces

Entry ramp from inside.

due to the offsetting gable volumes, a south facing terrace is created for the cafe below. pity about the carpark adjacent though

looking back up at the terrace and the shifted volumes..
(is that just me or the outdoor furniture really ugly?!)

moving further left from the previous picture, you have the main entrance steps and disabled access ramp

disabled access ramp and entry steps in the distance

complete view of the rectalinear volume

bridge junction detail.

that's it for now, i do have a few more but i think that's enough to convey what's going on.

oh yeah, and of course, the google earth placemark

ahh, one more... it seems none of the photos so far show how you actually approach this building (despite my long distance shot at the start).

here is how it looks as you approach it, signage and all.

signage and end elevation

Thanks SwankE for the images. Post 15 shows the timber cladding really well, its amazing the colour difference between the vertical and horizontal cladding, I guess that is just the way the timber has weathered, the vertical cladding allowing the timber to leach? Anyone know if that is right?

There is a research document called "Timber claddding in Scotland" which is available as a pdf (http://www.highlandbirchwoods.co.uk/publications/TimberCladding/timbercladding.pdf) from Highland Birchwoods (http://www.highlandbirchwoods.co.uk). It said that the cladding at the Henley Museum was green oak (i.e. unseasoned) and it would have shrunk by as much as 20%. The coach bolts would have been fitted on washers with oversized holes to allow the timber to shrink.

You don't have any drawings do you?

Thanks SwankE for the images. Post 15 shows the timber cladding really well, its amazing the colour difference between the vertical and horizontal cladding, I guess that is just the way the timber has weathered, the vertical cladding allowing the timber to leach? Anyone know if that is right?
i think what you see there is that it is a recessed doorway, and hence it was less wet and exposed to weather (see post 14).
You don't have any drawings do you?
no i don't unfortunately, sorry.

Not the recessed door which shows pretty much original colour, I mean on the side like this.

You can also see this in other images including your last one: post 34

don't know, hard to say... see the colour difference in different part of the veritical timber?
maybe the cement have something to do with it?:wondering

woah! what a picture, why not post earlier are you saving the great pictures for some other forum? :poke fun:
wonder if it is the concrete leaching the white pigment certainly looks like it there? calciates (that right) into the timber? experts please.

i see what you mean though, take this picture for example.

it may have to do with how the light is reflected (as you know timber does have this silvery sheen that appears to be underneath)

here is a close up detail of the timber fixings

SwankE more great pictures! :not worth
It might be exagegrated by the light bouncing along the grain *maybe it is just a trick of thee light?) but that doesn't explain the image you posted earlier with the concrete above? unless the dark strip (zinc?) is reducing the light hitting those two planks? :wondering