Grand Designs Episodes
Hillcot Barn 5/5
Hillcott barn an old Herefordshire threshing stone barn located in the village of Hope Mansel near the forest of Dean featured on Channel Four's Grand Designs series in April 2006. The project started filming in 2004.
Hillcot Barn 5/5
Hillcott barn an old Herefordshire threshing stone barn located in the village of Hope Mansel near the forest of Dean featured on Channel Four's Grand Designs series in April 2006. The project started filming in 2004.
The barn located on a vantage point of a steep hill adjacent to open farmland and woodland was a raw canvas unspoilt by progress. The construction of the roof was in rustic timber using elm for the trusses and rubble stone with lime pointing and lime washing to the walls. The roof was in blue riven slates.
As a threshing barn the structure had narrow arrow slit windows to provide natural ventilation to the stored grain and two large openings opposite each other to facilitate the threshing of the wheat. The structure was all about wind and shelter using the high vantage point to great benefit.
The designs employed expert conservation techniques that have been developed by RRA Architects over many years. A radical plan to facilitate phased construction and off site manufacture was adopted principally as a cost saving measure.
The essence of the design was to rest lightly on the fabric of the old barn and insert modern accommodation standards in the form of pods that created the kitchen, dressing room, bathroom, ensuite and tv snug. Each of these were made off site and lowered into a pre prepared position ready for connection.
The essence of the design was to rest lightly on the fabric of the old barn and insert modern accommodation standards in the form of pods that created the kitchen, dressing room, bathroom, ensuite and tv snug. Each of these were made off site and lowered into a pre prepared position ready for connection.
The raised roof was the ingenious architectural design, featured on the show. This method of introducing ventilation and daylight into the building without the need for new windows or enlarged arrow slits, which would have destroyed the delicate historic fabric of the walls of the barn was the key to the success of the project and good conservation technique.
Hillcott Barn looked more like a Tuscan monastery than an English barn. When the farmer put it up for sale, most people who viewed it walked away. It was dark and isolated and could only be reached by a half mile farm track with a steep gradient.
But furniture designer Robert Ellis had had his eye on it for some time. For years he'd been jogging past the barn and always thought one day he'd like to live there. Against all advice, Rob and his wife Jane, a textile designer, went ahead and bought the barn for £210,000 and proposed to convert at £250,000.The couple had radical ideas for their new home. The barn was so dark all their plans were designed to get as much light into the space as possible. By adding a new slate roof and building a narrow window all the way around the top of the building between the walls, thin shafts of light filter into the building mirroring the slashes of light created by the old slit windows.
But furniture designer Robert Ellis had had his eye on it for some time. For years he'd been jogging past the barn and always thought one day he'd like to live there. Against all advice, Rob and his wife Jane, a textile designer, went ahead and bought the barn for £210,000 and proposed to convert at £250,000.The couple had radical ideas for their new home. The barn was so dark all their plans were designed to get as much light into the space as possible. By adding a new slate roof and building a narrow window all the way around the top of the building between the walls, thin shafts of light filter into the building mirroring the slashes of light created by the old slit windows.
The large threshing doors on either side of the barn have been replaced with two huge full height glass doors which pivot at the centre so that the barn can be opened up completely to the elements. Downstairs, a polished concrete floor extends outwards through the large glass doors on either side of the building so that the whole structure looks like a cross from the air.
What inspired you to take on this build?
We had seen this barn with its red doors from the vantage point in the village over the years and jokingly said we would love to live there - never thinking it might happen. In 2002 Robert was very ill and one of the images that kept him going was the barn in the early morning - he had a photo of it beside the bed.
The site is outstanding, the first time we went up to the barn battling through 68 old vehicles and nettles and brambles and stood looking out over the view to the south it was a coup de foudre! A 360 degree view in an area of outstanding natural beauty, no pylons, no chance of buildings, just sheep.
We came to the decision slowly - barn conversions are not taken on lightly and we had been involved in two smaller ones earlier. We knew the problems and had said after the last one never again.
The project was like riding a tiger, you stay on to the end or he might eat you.
We had decided that the barn and its site demanded the best we could give it, an opportunity like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
We wanted to conserve the structure, changing or interfering with it as little as possible. We wanted to create a departure from a normal barn conversion but find an exciting but enduring solution to turning the barn into a dwelling. We saw it as spaces and activities, not rooms.
The project was life changing, after a wrong start with a builder who turned out not to be what he said he was, I took the huge decision to manage project myself. This meant putting any other life on hold for 18 months, as I also did my own subcontracting. Most smaller builders these days don't employ anyone, you then know who you will be working with. We had to get a planning change to build the road and the utilities gave problems from the outset.
The project was challenging, exhilarating and exhausting, keeping so much in your head and bringing in the concept at a price you can afford and the quality you want.
Which design features are you most proud of and why?
English Heritage in a recent article state that they worry about the domestic clutter incorporated in and surrounding many agricultural developments. I think we have created, an evolution of the building - hiding nothing of its history, its patina of age and use and adding only what is necessary to conserve the fabric for the next 200 years.
I love the fact that all our structural works interfere so little with the natural materials and look. The barn has been there hundreds of years and still looks that way - I didn't want 'pub' pointing and farm house 'tweeness'. This is a strong powerful building, like a Tuscan hill farm. I wanted to retain this mass footprint in the landscape.
The design was to incorporate old with new, light with dark. The special layout of the spaces within the barn work! Deliberately our new interior additions are separated from the old structure by a light grey margin, this is in varying materials according to the position, steel mesh, grey steel , deliberate gaps, glass and space.
I enjoy using a variety of materials; stone, steel, oak, walnut, glass, lacquer. Their visual appearance is satisfying to the eye and creates an experience of calm. Creating this look of simplicity has been the most difficult aspect of the barn however we think the hard work has finally paid off.
What room is your favourite and how do you use it?
The sitting room upstairs has for us the main wow factor. The space incorporates the impressive timber and steel roof structure juxtaposed against glass and the oak floor. We adore the views - to sit in the early evening looking out over this wonderful landscape is heaven.
'How do you measure the success of a building? Well if it's according to how well it comes in on budget and schedule then this place is an abject failure. But great architecture is not about meeting targets. All that stuff gets forgotten about in five years time.'
'It's about how a building makes you feel now and in ten or twenty years time. It's about how far it pushes ideas to the very edge. And of course that means problems and difficulties along the way. But if you are prepared to invest in great ideas just look at what you get.'
'It's about how a building makes you feel now and in ten or twenty years time. It's about how far it pushes ideas to the very edge. And of course that means problems and difficulties along the way. But if you are prepared to invest in great ideas just look at what you get.'
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