Stables House

Stables House was completed in November 2019 having been converted and extended from a former stable block into a residential dwelling. The project received an RIBA Suffolk Design Award 2020. Stables House incorporates two art studios connected into a courtyard as well as extensive ground floor living spaces with views over the park.

Our approach was to orient the new living accommodation to the views of the park enabling the client’s studios to occupy the existing buildings with the advantage of an introspective courtyard setting and north light. The existing spaces lent themselves to a light touch approach to conservation in order to create the studios required and to suit the client’s budget.

In these existing spaces original features have been retained and lovingly restored. Inspiration for the material language for the new living accommodation has been drawn from the original construction palette. In particular the blue engineering bricks, which were used to protect the corners of the original working stable, have been echoed with a pattern of glazed headers amongst soft orange stretchers in a Flemish bond on the external walls of the new extension. Our client, a potter, was closely involved with the selection and the chosen brick was originally created for the artist Damien Hirst.