‘Fields Farm’ at Blackbrook

Originally an historic farmstead, this rural residence has been extended and altered over several decades but has never really fulfilled its true potential or made then most of its beautiful rural setting. The task here was to come up with a scheme which retains the best of the rustic charm of the farm house, whilst creating the complimentary modern accommodation required of the clients brief, all whilst responding to the site context without overshadowing the original dwelling.

The solution is a scheme which simplifies and refurbishes the original farm house and retains all of it’s vernacular architecture but is coupled with a completely new wing comprising a series of simple, stone planes and sheet glass voids in direct contrast to the solid, regularly fenestrated volume of the original house. The resultant large open voids are also in stark contrast to the smaller, more traditional volumes of the many rooms which make up the original farm house. Materials have been carefully chosen to be simple, honest and consistent with new enclosure walls in natural rough stone inside and out, separated from the main volume of the house by extensive sheet glass bi-folding doors. Reordering and alteration to the pervious extension is finished in white render, as a subtle contrast to the white painted brickwork of the original farm house so that the original house is a totally legible in the overall new architectural composition.