Furzey Hall Farm, Gloucestershire Architecture, Cotswold Building Design, Architects, Property Images

Furzey Hall Farm, Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire Building, southwest England design by Waugh Thistleton Architects, UK

2 Oct 2010

Furzey Hall Farm Award

RIBA Manser Medal 2010 Shortlist

Location: Gloucestershire, south west England, UK

Architect: Waugh Thistleton Architects

Furzey Hall Farm

Furzey Hall Farm is a beautiful family house in a very rural location, created from a three storey Victorian Cotswold stone farm cottage and an adjacent barn. The estate agents who sold the existing property in 2006 were well aware of its potential, describing it as ‘a blank canvas – a dream house for an imaginative buyer…this is an opportunity not to be missed’.

images : Will Pryce

The imaginative clients appointed architects who were also old friends and the collaboration has resulted in the two old buildings being linked together by an elegant new single storey timber and glass building. The link is ‘L’ shaped in plan enclosing two sides of the garden and houses a generous open plan kitchen, dining areas and a new guest suite.

In the dining area huge fully glazed sliding screens can be opened to give access to a decked terrace and swimming pool which is filled with well water filtered through an adjacent reed bed. The roof of the building is cantilevered so that there is no structure along the garden edge. Children’s bedrooms and a snug sitting room are accommodated within the existing farmhouse.

The barn houses spectacular double height living spaces arranged in a cruciform plan within the central bay of the barn. Beyond this is a quirky open plan bathroom and beautifully detailed metal stairs leading to a mezzanine master bedroom. The thick rubblework exterior walls of the existing building, now absorbed into the interior of the house, are a delightful contrast to the smooth minimal finishes: glass, tiles, concrete and Brazilian Iroko which are used for the new building. The architects take sustainability seriously and a ground source heat pumps provide heating and hot water.

Throughout the project simple materials have been used in a confident manner; the original elm trusses are retained and the stone walls are left exposed along the gable ends of the barn. The original character of the barn is juxtaposed with bold modern interventions such as the folded steel staircase.

The project is true to its origins, with snug sitting rooms and cellular bedrooms retained in the farm cottage and open-plan living achieved in the barn. This is a scheme which has given its owners just what they wanted while retaining the architectural integrity of some good rural buildings.

images : Will Pryce

RIBA Manser Medal 2010

RIBA Special Awards

Stirling Prize

Furzey Hall Farm – Building Information

Architect: Waugh Thistleton Architects
Client: Confidential
Contractor: MS Building & Renovations
Structural Engineer: Elliot Wood Partnership
Services Engineer: Michael Popper Associates
Pool Design: Clear Water Revival
Pool contractor: Graduate Gardeners
Gross internal area: 442 sqm

Furzey Hall Farm information from RIBA

Waugh Thistleton Architects

Location: The Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, England, UK

English Architecture

Contemporary Architecture in England

English Architecture Design – chronological list

Gloucestershire Buildings – Selection

Cheltenham’s Art Gallery & Museum – new building development
Berman Guedes Stretton – winner: RIBA Competition
Gloucestershire building
image from architects
Gloucestershire museum building

Gloucester’s Kings Quarter
Gloucester building project

Gloucester Language Immersion Centre
Design: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

image © Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Gloucester Language Immersion Centre

The Parabola Arts Centre at Cheltenham Ladies’ College
Design: Foster Wilson Architects

photo © James Brittain
Cheltenham Ladies’ College Building