Silecroft Beach Café
The new Silecroft Beach Café and Visitor Hub is a striking architectural addition to the Cumbrian coast, designed by Konishi Gaffney Architects and completed in 2024 for Copeland Borough Council. Situated on the edge of the Lake District National Park, the building has been widely praised for its elegant form, exposed timber structure, and its seamless integration of art and architecture.
A key artistic feature of the project is the series of sculptural steel shutters designed by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce. Boyce's design incorporates a modernist triangular motif inspired by themes of landscape, light, and movement. These shutters form the building's signature external identity, creating patterned shadows that shift throughout the day and linking the café to the wider Connecting Cumbria's Hidden Coast arts programme.
Sculpture & Design were commissioned to fabricate the panels for Boyce's integrated artwork. Working from the artist's motifs and the architects' detailed specifications, we manufactured the sculptural steel elements that form the café's custom external shutters. These components required precision engineering and high-quality finishing to achieve the crisp geometries, durability and marine-grade performance essential for a building situated directly on the coast.
The café and visitor hub have transformed this stretch of shoreline, providing sheltered courtyards, panoramic views of the Irish Sea and Black Combe Fell, and a welcoming destination for walkers, swimmers, and beachgoers. The collaboration between Konishi Gaffney, Martin Boyce, and specialist makers such as our team has resulted in a contemporary coastal building where architecture, craft and public art are fully intertwined.
A key artistic feature of the project is the series of sculptural steel shutters designed by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce. Boyce's design incorporates a modernist triangular motif inspired by themes of landscape, light, and movement. These shutters form the building's signature external identity, creating patterned shadows that shift throughout the day and linking the café to the wider Connecting Cumbria's Hidden Coast arts programme.
Sculpture & Design were commissioned to fabricate the panels for Boyce's integrated artwork. Working from the artist's motifs and the architects' detailed specifications, we manufactured the sculptural steel elements that form the café's custom external shutters. These components required precision engineering and high-quality finishing to achieve the crisp geometries, durability and marine-grade performance essential for a building situated directly on the coast.
The café and visitor hub have transformed this stretch of shoreline, providing sheltered courtyards, panoramic views of the Irish Sea and Black Combe Fell, and a welcoming destination for walkers, swimmers, and beachgoers. The collaboration between Konishi Gaffney, Martin Boyce, and specialist makers such as our team has resulted in a contemporary coastal building where architecture, craft and public art are fully intertwined.
