The Hotwalls Studios provides local artists in Portsmouth with studio space whilst creating an important focal point for the city’s burgeoning creative community and cleverly embracing the unique heritage of this historic site.

Kebony, an enhanced wood from Norway, was selected by leading architects ERMC Architects to provide the internal flooring for all thirteen studios, the canteen and exterior decking, complementing the renovation of this previously vacant Victorian fort and maintaining the charm and timeless nature of this site.

Each converted casemate now forms a self-contained and versatile workspace ideally suited to artists. Utilising a pragmatic approach to modernisation, the robust form of the studios arches remains a dominant feature, with the existing surfaces and textures serving as both naturalistic decoration and a reminder of the structure’s historic significance. An outdoor terrace as well as an internal flooring solution has been constructed over the existing stone plinth with Kebony wood. This allows visitors and artists alike to relax and take in the spectacular views of the seascape so rarely observed from this location. Kebony was the perfect material for the terrace and internal flooring due to its enhanced durability and hardwearing nature.