Warwickshire Farm
Overview
This stone built Warwickshire Farmhouse sits amongst a group of traditional barns and outbuildings on a secluded site positioned on a steep valley side in open countryside.
The owner approached Hayward Smart Architects with a brief that included the design of an extension to provide a large open plan kitchen, dining and living space along with re-ordering of existing rooms within the main house.
The resulting contemporary extension sits as a zinc clad & highly glazed box atop an extended garden wall improving the connection to the adjacent farm buildings and far reaching views across the valley. A language of plywood joinery throughout the property serves as a coherent link between the new extension and rooms in the existing house.
The Design
Due to the sloping site levels and stone mullioned windows to the existing kitchen, used as the families main living space, connection to the external space and the far reaching views across the valley were limited on the northern side of the 3 storey building.
The single storey extension, provides open plan kitchen, dining and sitting areas, which are accessed through an enlarged opening from a new formal sitting room (existing kitchen).
Large, fixed glazed and sliding door screens to the western end of the extension make the most of the countryside views, whilst slot casement windows to the eastern (dining area) end serve to restrict views of the adjacent farm buildings and allow for bespoke fitted furniture.
Materials
The existing external stone wall is retained exposed in the new extension, a 9m long rooflight over highlighting this and allowing natural light deep into the plan.
Clad in ‘pigmento’ red zinc panels and board on board cedar cladding under a flat roof with sedum finish, the form of the extension sits in contrast to the existing building but is respectful in scale and proportion. A single postbox red aluminium clad column breaks up the North Elevation and references the new steel goalpost used to support the opening to the Wash-Up.
Alongside the extension, further works to the property included the re-ordering of existing room layouts in order to provide improved living, bedroom and utility accommodation. This included a significant package of bespoke plywood furniture throughout the existing house and the extension.
Externally, the layout of the zinc panelling is tightly controlled using shadow gaps (10mm vertical & 20mm horizontal) and equal panel sizing that is relative to the door and window openings. This informed the detailing to the bespoke joinery.
With formica faced and veneered plywood used for all of the fitted furniture, a language of detail was developed through workshop meetings with the specialist joinery company that could be used for all items.
White formica faced plywood was used in the service areas, with differing splashes of colour to the Utility/Boot Room, Wash-Up and Office respectively. Oak veneers were used to the Extension, Playroom and Master Bedroom to give a more formal and luxurious appearance.
To the extension, a modern interpretation of the traditional flagstone floor was used, this being large format concrete tiles. A concrete heath and fluted concrete wall panelling have been installed in the new formal sitting room to provide a further connection between the two spaces.
Awards
Shortlisted for RIBA West Midlands Award 2019.
