Barn-ish, Brighton-ish

Barn-ish, Brighton-ish is an internal refurbishment of a Grade-II listed Coach House in Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex.  Historically, the Coach House served the adjacent buildings on the High Street and in the early 1980s, was converted into residential and light commercial uses.

The property was bought by it’s current owners in late 2013 who were keen to convert the garages and workshops into residential use and to create a new 4-bedroomed family home. They were also keen to create a private garden area in the Coach House’s old forecourt.

The existing structure and fabric were retained and new floors and wall linings installed where the spaces were being converted from the garages into new residential use. The new spaces are sculpted around the existing structure to enable the new elements to be clearly read against the historic fabric: maximising the armature of the modest Coach House.

Constructed within the existing building’s timber-framed shell, the design provides new single and double-height spaces in this long, thin building. The design features a double-height space that creates display space for our client’s collection of records and books as well as a discreet picture window with views through to the adjacent first floor space.

The design includes two new staircases – one at either end of the building – that are contemporary in nature but reflect the intimacy, sense of containment and craftsmanship of traditional staircases in residential buildings of a similar period. A proud, ‘front’ stair opens up from the main entrance and a quiet ‘rear’ stair is accessed through a hidden door within the cabinetry.

The design explores issues such as threshold, intimacy and playfulness both materially and spatially to provide a series of rich and layered domestic moments. The landscape modifications removes car parking from the centre of the site and creates a new private, family garden with a series of seasonally-selected, communities of plants.

Awards
AJ Retrofit Awards –  Best House: Shortlisted
Hurstpierpoint Conservation Society Award: Winner