This project, completed spring 2013, was a great one. The clients approached us with a wish to develop their period house situated with a lake to the east and a wooded area to the west. You could not describe the beauty of the site and views, nor the peaceful feeling the place evokes. Our role was to carefully remove a set of disintegrating metal sheds, which were located to the rear and leaned to the gable of the house.
The sheds held special memories for the clients – of childhood days and father’s workshop. Our concept was to create a new ‘shed’, using the same footprint as the existing sheds and borrowing from the original palette of materials, detailing and characteristics. The dilapidated sheds had to go but in their place stands a new structure which respects what went before and bows to the original house. It opens up views through the site – from house to woodland beyond, and out towards the lake to the east. Our palette was metal, render, stone and timber. Large metal panel doors slide to reveal a living space and wood store. The north east corner of the living space is left glazed to match the original shed openings and capture a lake view. The agricultural detailing evoked in the new structure gives a fitting simplicity to the build.