Old School House

by Bindloss Dawes Architects Limited

Client Private

Award RIBA South West and Wessex Award 2024

The Old School House sits next to a church in an idyllic little valley near Bruton in Somerset. The rest of the village is some distance away, so apart from one other dwelling, the schoolhouse feels quite cut off from the world. It was converted to a house after the Second World War and was extended in an unsympathetic way in the 1970s. Bindloss Dawes Architects have replaced the old extension with a bigger timber-clad wing that mirrors the form of the schoolhouse, connected by a new galvanised steel framed, glazed sun room. The honey coloured, locally sourced chestnut cladding and the existing stone, quarried in nearby Hadspen, tone well together, and careful judgement of proportion and scale mean the extension sits very comfortably alongside the historic building.

Read the full citation from the RIBA Awards Jury on RIBA Journal.

Contractors Gregory Renovations Ltd

Structural Engineer Momentum Consulting Engineers Ltd

Gross internal area in m² 135