Five Acre Barn
by Blee Halligan
Client Five Acre Barn
Awards RIBA East Award 2018, RIBA East Small Project of the Year Award 2018 and RIBA National Award 2018
The Five Acre Barn is an original building form that is well suited to this new type of brief. The scheme provides new build; “bed and breakfast” accommodation for five visitors (individuals, couples or families) who can choose to live and dine together for their stay, or use their room as a base to travel around this scenic area of Suffolk, Aldeburgh being the nearest town to the site. The new building has a stepping, organic form, clad in shingles, that ‘wriggles’ among the trees in a mature garden (the five acres of the title). Each room is expressed in the roof form and each room has its own timber deck projecting out into the landscape. The new building is directly linked to a retained workshop building. This simple brick building has been repaired and enhanced in the most minimalist way (the addition of an aluminium gutter, roof repairs and the odd new window) so that when you step inside, it is a surprise that it is a single volume of stylish kitchen/ dining room/ lounge.
Everywhere the finishes are minimum but the furniture (mid-century classics), pottery, prints light fittings etc, bring a Shoreditch-style (and purchasing power) to Suffolk.
What is most surprising and pleasing, given the quality of finishes and workmanship is that this is largely a self-build project where the owners installed the cedar shingles, completed most of the joinery and decorations; working alongside the builder, Paul Ralph, every day on site. The scale and the budget is modest but this imaginative building punches well above its weight.
Contractor Paul Rolph
Structural Engineer Adam Power Associates
Internal Area 450 m²
