Water Tower is a project designed by Tonkin Liu. The historic village of Castle Acre is home to a ruined Norman Castle, a ruined 11th century Priory, a ruin Bailey gate and a ruined steel Water Tower. The Water Tower had been relocated from a local airfield after the war and had become a popular landmark with villagers, many of whom had climbed it during their youth. Bidding against scrap metal dealers the tower was bought by the client in an auction. As part of the living history of the village, the disused structure?s preservation and reuse as a home drew great support from the local community. Photography by Taran Wilkhu, Mike Tonkin, Dennis Pedersen.

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The steel tank has become a living room, the steel frame has been infilled to provide sleeping chambers with a ground floor entrance and recreation area and a new tower has been added for access and to stabilise the delicate structure that swayed in the hilltop wind. The rusty panelized steel tank has been retained and transformed with a panoramic window. Above and below the ribbon window steel trusses works in tandem with the existing steel panels to open the tank to an expansive view of the flat horizon. The support for the upper trussed panel is disguised by the frames of the opening portions of the ribbon window. A single skylight surround by mirror will bring light from every direction into the living dining and cooking space. Below the tank the existing steel fra...