Silo House

Conversion and extension of a disused farm building into a one off home

Located next door to our Berners Yard site, this project converted a stand-alone barn that served as part of a farmstead to the Woolverstone Hall Estate. The requirement was for the barn to be related to and distinct from the courtyard development. The stature of the barn was altered by adding a large (65m2) extension to house the main living accommodation. The extension highlights the entrance and transforms the axis of the built form. Planning was achieved through careful consideration of the relationship between the new and existing buildings.

Externally, the original barn remains the host to the new extension while inside, the scale of new space is dramatic with a vaulted ceiling and roof lights to flood the airy space with light. Sliding doors connect the dining area out to the garden and large windows provide views over the countryside and glimpses right through the house. In contrast, the bedrooms in the original barn feel cosy and intimate. The exposed the roof structure in the existing building is a departure from the crisp plastered form of the extension.

The materials and connection details between old and new are carefully crafted. The link between the living room and kitchen is glazed on both sides providing separation of the two pitched roof forms. The set-back timber clad wall behind the existing posts of the barn also continues into the hall and out of the other side of the extension, accentuating the division between old and new and adding interest and warmth inside.

In the garden a grain silo houses a home office and garden store with panoramic views over the open countryside.

Client: Nest Development

Structural Engineer: Gina Turner, Steria Consulting (formerly The Morton Partnership)

Contractor: Nest Construction

Photographs by Alex Sarginson