Before & After: A Brick Hayloft in England Gets a Breakthrough Renovation
Simon Knight Architects turns a historic building into a contemporary family home by sprucing up its exterior and rejiggering the ground floor.
Simon Knight Architects turns a historic building into a contemporary family home by sprucing up its exterior and rejiggering the ground floor.
In search of a bigger property with more outdoor space located closer to family, Becky and Rob Burr, along with their two children, Ewan and Doddie, moved from New Cross in South East London to Linslade, Bedfordshire in May 2018. They upgraded from a small flat with no garden to a large Victorian Hayloft, which had previously been converted, albeit poorly, into a habitable dwelling.
"It had a really big garden and, as it’s a historic building, was full of character," says Becky. "However, it looked really ugly on the outside, with a very dark and impractical ground-floor layout on the inside."
Despite these concerns, the couple could see huge potential in the property, so they got in touch with Simon Knight Architects to design a refurb and extension. "We wanted to create a comfortable and cozy modern family house, but also to retain as much historical character as possible," says Becky.
Origin aluminum sliding doors flood the new extension with natural light. The design team left the timber beams and structural steel exposed, as a nod to the home’s industrial heritage.
Photo by Matthew Smith Photography
Knight’s solution was threefold. The first step of the redesign was to analyze the existing ground floor to see how it could be compressed and made more efficient. The architect allocated more space to the living area in the middle of the floor plan, and devised a new entrance, utility space, and shower room at the front of the property. The second step was to replace the tired conservatory at the rear of the house with a full-width extension. The final part of the project was to look at different ways to showcase and express the original industrial building, while also improving its thermal performance.
‘The interesting thing about this project is that there isn’t a huge amount of additional footprint," says Knight. "But in terms of efficiency, we’ve created a lot more usable space." In total, only 75 square feet of new floor area has been added to the home—created by infilling the old entrance porch and creating a full-width extension at the rear. However, by dividing the garage in two, moving the entrance door to the front of the building, and getting rid of the lobby area in the middle of the home, an additional 290 square feet of previously wasted space has been freed up to allow for a new utility and shower space at the front of the house, a large lounge area in the middle of the home, and an open-plan kitchen and dining area at the rear of the property.
Before: Side Elevation
The original Hayloft arches had been poorly infilled with an unsympathetic brick structure, and the home’s entrance was at the side of the house, instead of the front of the property.
Courtesy of Simon Knight Architects
After: Side Elevation
Uniformed uPVC windows with an anthracite coating have been added to the side of the property, along with metal-clad archways which have replaced a poorly built brick-infill structure. These additions have transformed the building visually, and helped reveal the original purpose of the historical building.
Photo by Matthew Smith Photography
See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: A Brick Hayloft in England Gets a Breakthrough Renovation
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