Eric Roth Photography

On a challenging sloped 10 acre property, Equine Facility Design provided building and site design for a private stable. The stable consists of four stalls with runs, wash/groom stall, office/feed room, and attached two bay garage. A raised center aisle and double sided glazed clerestory provide natural light and ventilation to the building. Located just steps away from the existing residence, views of the horses looking out their stalls and in their runs can be seen from many of family’s rooms.

In Brief Our client has occupied their mid-19th Century farm house in a small attractive village in Staffordshire for many years. As the family has grown and developed, their lifestyles and living patterns have changed. Although the existing property is particularly generous in terms of size and space, the family circumstances had changed, and they needed extra living space to accommodate older members of their family. The layout and shape of the farm house’s living accommodation didn’t provide the functional space for everyday modern family life. Their kitchen is located at the far end of the house, and, in fact it is furthest ground floor room away from the garden. This proves challenging for the family during the warmer, sunnier months when they wish to spend more time eating and drinking outdoors. The only access they have to the garden is from a gate at the rear of the property. The quickest way to get there is through the back door which leads onto their rear driveway. The family virtually need to scale the perimeter of the house to access their garden. The family would also like to comfortably welcome additional older family members to the household. Although their relatives want the security of being within the family hub they also want their own space, privacy and independence from the core of the family. We were appointed by our client to help them create a design solution that responds to the needs of the family, for now, and into the foreseeable future. In Context To the rear of the farmhouse our clients had still retained the red bricked historic bake house and granary barn. The family wanted to maximise the potential of the redundant building by converting it into a separate annex to accommodate their older relatives. They also sought a solution to accessing the back garden from the farmhouse. Our clients enjoy being in the garden and would like to be able to easily spend more time outside. The barn offers an ideal use of vacant space from which to create additional living accommodation that’s on the ground floor, independent, private, and yet it’s easy to access the hub of the family home. Our Approach The client’s home is in a small village in the Staffordshire countryside, within a conservation area. Their attractive mid-19th century red bricked farmhouse occupies a prominent corner position next to the church at the entrance to High Street. Its former farm buildings and yard have been sold for residential conversion and redevelopment but to the rear the farmhouse still retains its historic bake house with granary above. The barn is a two-storey red brick building with a clay tiled roof and the upper floor can still accessed by an external flight of stone steps. Over the years the bake house has only been used by the family for storage and needed some repairs. The barn's style is a great example which reflects the way that former farming activity was carried out back in the mid-19th Century. The new living space within the barn solves three problems in one. The empty barn provides the perfect space for developing extra en-suite, ground floor living accommodation for the family, creating additional flexible space on the first floor of the barn for the family’s hobbies. The conversion provides a to link the main farmhouse with barn, the garden and the drive way. It will also give a new lease of life back to the historic barn preserving and enhancing its originality. Design Approach Every element of the historical barns restoration was given careful consideration, to sensitively retain and restore the original character. The property has some significant features of heritage value all lending to its historical character. For example, to the rear of the barn there is an original beehive oven. Historical Gems A beehive oven is a type of oven that’s been used since the Middle Ages in Europe. It gets its name from its domed shape, which resembles that of an old-fashioned beehive. The oven is an extremely rare example and is a feature that our team and our clients wanted to restore and incorporate into the new design. The conservation officer was in favour of retaining the beehive oven to preserve it for future studies. Our clients also have a well in the front garden of the farmhouse. The old well is located exactly under the spot of the proposed new en-suite WC. We liaised with the conservation officer and they were happy for the well to be covered rather than preserved within the design. We discussed the possibility of making a feature of the well within the barn to our clients and made clear that highlighting the well would be costly in both time and money. The family had a budget and timescale to follow and they decided against incorporating the well within the new design. We ensured that the redundant well was properly assessed, before it could be infilled and capped with a reinforced concrete slab. Another aspect of the barn that we were all keen to preserve were the external granary steps and door. They are part of the building’s significance and character; their loss would weaken the character and heritage of the old granary barn. We ensured that the steps and door should be retained and repaired within the new design. It was imperative for clients and our team to retain the historical features that form the character and history of the building. The external stone steps and granary door complement the original design indicating the buildings former working purpose within the 19th Century farm complex. An experienced structural specialist was appointed to produce a structural report, to ensure all aspects of the building were sound prior to planning. Our team worked closely with the conservation officer to ensure that the project remained sensitive and sympathetic to the locality of the site and the existing buildings. Access Problems Solved Despite being in a Conservation Area, the conservation officer and the planners were happy with a seamless contemporary glazed link from the main farm to the granary barn. The new glazed link, not only brings a significant amount of light into the interior of the farmhouse, but also granary barn, creating an open and fluid area within the home, rather than it just being a corridor. The glazed hallway provides the family with direct access from the main farmhouse to the granary barn, and it opens outdirectly onto their garden space. The link to the barn changes the way that the family currently live for the better, creating flexibility in terms of direct access to the outside space and to the granary barn. Working Together We worked closely with the conservation officer to ensure that our initial design for the planned scheme was befitting of its place in the Conservation Area (and suited to a historic structure). It was our intention to create a modern and refreshing space which complements the original building. A close collaboration between the client, the conservation officer, the planners and our team has enabled us the deliver a design that retains as much of the working aesthetic of the buildings as possible. Local planners were keen to see the building converted to residential use to save it from disrepair, allowing the chance to create a unique home with significant original features, such as the beehive oven, the stone steps and the granary doors. We have sensitively and respectfully designed the barn incorporating new architecture with a sense of the old history from the existing buildings. This allows the current work to be interpreted as an additional thread to the historical context of the buildings, without affecting their character. The former barn has been sympathetically transformed inside and out, corresponding well with the historical significance of the immediate farm site and the local area. We’ve created a new sleek, contemporary glazed link for the family to the outside of their house, whilst developing additional living space that retains the historical core, ethos and detail of the building. In addition, the clients can also now take advantage of the unrivaled views of the church opposite, from the upper floor of the historic barn. Feeling inspired? Find out how we converted a Grade II Listed Farmhouse.

Chris Snook

Nos clients, une famille avec 3 enfants, ont fait l'acquisition de ce bien avec une jolie surface de type loft (200 m²). Cependant, ce dernier manquait de personnalité et il était nécessaire de créer de belles liaisons entre les différents étages afin d'obtenir un tout cohérent et esthétique. ⁠ ⁠ Nos équipes, en collaboration avec @charlotte_fequet, ont travaillé des tons pastel, camaïeux de bleus afin de créer une continuité et d’amener le ciel bleu à l’intérieur. ⁠ ⁠ Pour le sol du RDC, nous avons coulé du béton ciré @okre.eu afin d'accentuer le côté loft tout en réduisant les coûts de dépose parquet. Néanmoins, pour les pièces à l'étage, un nouveau parquet a été posé pour plus de chaleur. ⁠ ⁠ Au RDC, la chambre parentale a été remplacée par une cuisine. Elle s'ouvre à présent sur le salon, la salle à manger ainsi que la terrasse. La nouvelle cuisine offre à la fois un côté doux avec ses caissons peints en Biscuit vert (@ressource_peintures) et un côté graphique grâce à ses suspensions @celinewrightparis et ses deux verrières sur mesure. ⁠ ⁠ Ce côté graphique est également présent dans les SDB avec des carreaux de ciments signés @mosaic.factory. On y retrouve des choix avant-gardistes à l'instar des carreaux de ciments créés en collaboration avec Valentine Bärg ou encore ceux issus de la collection "Forma".⁠ ⁠ Des menuiseries sur mesure viennent embellir le loft tout en le rendant plus fonctionnel. Dans le salon, les rangements sous l'escalier et la banquette ; le salon TV où nos équipes ont fait du semi sur mesure avec des caissons @ikeafrance ; les verrières de la SDB et de la cuisine ; ou encore cette somptueuse bibliothèque qui vient structurer le couloir

This 4000 square foot timer frame home in Revelstoke was coated entirely with a Stylestone concrete flooring overlay to replicate a tile the owner liked. This is a 30" x 30" pattern. We added two grizzly bear paws, in front of a fire place, and in front of the main entrance.

The Front entrance hall we had plastered with pale pink tint. and we went to England to order special 12x12inch concrete tiles, It was quite magnificent.

Le duplex du projet Nollet a charmé nos clients car, bien que désuet, il possédait un certain cachet. Ces derniers ont travaillé eux-mêmes sur le design pour révéler le potentiel de ce bien. Nos architectes les ont assistés sur tous les détails techniques de la conception et nos ouvriers ont exécuté les plans. Malheureusement le projet est arrivé au moment de la crise du Covid-19. Mais grâce au process et à l’expérience de notre agence, nous avons pu animer les discussions via WhatsApp pour finaliser la conception. Puis lors du chantier, nos clients recevaient tous les 2 jours des photos pour suivre son avancée. Nos experts ont mené à bien plusieurs menuiseries sur-mesure : telle l’imposante bibliothèque dans le salon, les longues étagères qui flottent au-dessus de la cuisine et les différents rangements que l’on trouve dans les niches et alcôves. Les parquets ont été poncés, les murs repeints à coup de Farrow and Ball sur des tons verts et bleus. Le vert décliné en Ash Grey, qu’on retrouve dans la salle de bain aux allures de vestiaire de gymnase, la chambre parentale ou le Studio Green qui revêt la bibliothèque. Pour le bleu, on citera pour exemple le Black Blue de la cuisine ou encore le bleu de Nimes pour la chambre d’enfant. Certaines cloisons ont été abattues comme celles qui enfermaient l’escalier. Ainsi cet escalier singulier semble être un élément à part entière de l’appartement, il peut recevoir toute la lumière et l’attention qu’il mérite !

Tutte le stanze si articolano attorno al corridoio centrale. Data la conformazione stretta e lunga dell'ambiente si è deciso di applicare colori molto chiari per cercare di aumentare al massimo la luminosità. Tutte le porte erano state verniciate con colori scuri, ma rimaneva chiara la bellezza dei decori e delle chiambrane originali. Si è deciso pertanto di procedere con la loro verniciatura: bianche le porte e grigio scuro le chiambrane.

Hidden bookcase door, stained concrete compass, round coffered ceiling

Leslie Kohen

150 year old 1500 sq ft bare-bones basement gets complete makeover - perimeter french drains, lowered floor for increased headroom, new staircase, hand-hewn posts and beams. Integrated powder room, wet bar, study, game room and living room areas

Fotógrafa: Mercè Gost