The rolling chalk hills of Wiltshire are designated an area of outstanding natural beauty. It’s here that Andrew and Meryl run a 700 acre arable and dairy farm. While Andrew manages the farm, Meryl, an artist, runs a busy gallery in one of the converted barns.
However they don’t live on the farm, but in a village a couple of miles down the road. Now Andrew and Meryl want to build a new farmhouse in the middle of their land. The site for the new farmhouse is in the centre of all the action - right next door to Meryl’s gallery and a stone’s throw from the dairy and the farm workshops.
The proposed building will mimic the curved roofs of the local agricultural buildings, as well as the softly undulating landscape in which it sits. The backbone of the house will be formed by eight identical huge engineered-timber trusses. They’re as strong as a steel frame but they’ll add warmth, a powerful pleasing aesthetic and some ecological value.
Agricultural functionality will meet style in the polished concrete floor that’ll run right through the open plan ground floor to Andrew’s office beyond.
Two pods containing utility rooms and a larder will sit in the open space while behind the kitchen, there’ll be a farm boot room and garage. To ensure privacy and retain heat, there’ll be just a few windows on the north side overlooking the gallery. But the entire south side will be triple-glazed, to trap solar energy and visually connect Andrew and Meryl to the land they own and work.
The first floor has been designed as a suspended gallery, set back to allow a full height space along the length of the building. The two floors will be connected by a sculptural helical staircase – a sort of corkscrew axis in the centre of the house.
Upstairs, the master bedroom will be glazed to again connect to the southerly view. A balcony will lead to three further bedrooms, that will also have glass walls. As with any proper barn, there’ll be a curving metal roof – made of zinc – that will overarch the building to provide summer shade and which should provide those hints of agricultural use.
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