Nestled in the rolling hills around Mount Ephraim on the outskirts of Faversham, a conversion of a brick built double pitched, 19th century apple store barn, into two loft style, 5 bedroom luxury homes. The challenge with this project was the sheer scale of the barn, the high level windows and in particular, the depth of the plan. Being of historical interest, the planning authority did not allow any changes to the fabric of the building. In the end and after much negotiation with the conservation officer, allowance was given to alter the windows on the gable sides to allow for full height French doors underneath the existing high level windows.
The planners insisted that any redevelopment would not alter the oak frame inside the barn. In order to be able to access and create a 1st floor, it was therefore necessary to get above these great ‘Queen’ trusses. So a design was devised to get over this hurdle, by creating a walkway bridge above the point where the oak truss tie beams met. For this, headroom was required, so the biggest achievement in the negotiations was to be allowed to erect a third, glazed roof pitch between the two existing roof pitches. This provided the headroom, but also for a glass spine to run down the middle of the plan to bring, much needed light and air, to what would otherwise have been, a warren of dark and damp rooms. The restrictions from the planners created a quirky design, where in order to get to the upstairs bedrooms you have to first climb a set of stairs to get up and above the trusses, then in order to access each individual room, you have to descend a mini flight of stairs to access each bedroom. Thinking about it now and without realising it at the time, I had in effect, recreated one of my favourite pieces of art, ‘Relativity’ by M.C. Escher!
