Stone perfection, structural and wild
The combined work of internationally renowned architects Michaelis Boyd and the award-winning multi-disciplinary design studio of Jinny Blom.
The Barr Build team were privileged to bring to fruition the truly exceptional collaborative design work of Michaelis Boyd and Jinny Blom Studio, under the experienced guiding hand of Peter Grabham Associates.
The journey started with renovation work on a stunning country estate, which led to an extensive landscaping and building project, working to the specification of a truly outstanding design studio. The grand phase II plan included the construction of a stone pool house, a glazed art studio, and a garden store. Central to the scheme was a pool area surrounded by dry-stone walls into which the new buildings were sympathetically nestled.
“Barr Build make the art of construction appear seamless — the team were solutions-focused, and the process, as always, enjoyable.”
Materials of stone, slate, steel and timber were chosen to reflect the local building vernacular, with low-rise profiles bringing balanced scaling to the overall scheme. The collaborative design nods to the site's 18th-century incarnation as a working farm, with the three new structures representing a cluster of farm outbuildings. The dry-stone walling envelopes the space, binding the buildings together and forming the back walls of the art studio and garden store.
The main structure, a multi-use pool house, combines traditional form and craftsmanship with modern design features. Its positioning and subtly dominant stature, relative to the other new buildings, creates a hierarchy of importance. Concealed gutters are set behind the parapet of the main facades to maintain the contemporary composition. Large Crittall-style openings mimic an agricultural vernacular and enable the building to be opened out, celebrating views across the walled garden to the kitchen garden beyond. A strong stone chimney punctuates the building form to provide an indoor-outdoor fireplace alongside the pool terrace.
Inside, an open-plan lounging space and dual-aspect fireplace allow residents and guests to use the pool area year-round. A frameless glazed link between the pool house and garden store increases the usable floor space of the pool house gym, without adding material mass to the building.
The garden store, designed as a modest structure, provides space to store gardening equipment and a pool plant. A simple, low-pitched slate roof sits above slim, horizontal sections of timber-clad wall, which are set slightly back from the face of the two-metre-high garden walls. Cotswold stone gable walls provide deep bookends which gently dovetail into the wider scheme. Large barn-style doors to the southeastern wall of the store provide ease of access to the gardening equipment for maintenance of the green spaces on site.
The art studio acts as a bridge within the scheme, acts as a bridge between the entrance buildings and the rear gardens of the property. Its simple pitched roof and bookend Cotswold stone walls echo the modern-traditional design language which marries each of the new structures. Fine-framed metal glazing sections are set within the stone walls, which, together with three deep rooflights, drench the studio with light.
It has been a great privilege for the Barr Build team to work on the collective design output of Jinny Blom and Michaelis Boyd, as well as under the experienced guiding hand of project quantity surveyor Peter Grabham. We thank all three parties and our wonderful clients for trusting us with this very special project.
