Barn Cottage, Hertfordshire

Extension and new outbuilding for a family home in Harpenden

Background

e-gg was asked to deliver an internal remodelling and extension of a family home for a private client in Harpenden. The client also requested a new garden room to accommodate a sauna, yoga studio and home office.

The house is locally listed and situated in a conservation area.

Client:

Private Client

Status

Completed

Approach

Our intention for the extension was to create a simple form that provides the necessary extra floorspace without competing with the character of the locally listed home or the wider Conservation Area. We explored and discounted numerous massing options as too disruptive to the form and mass of the existing building.

The extension was ultimately conceived as a simple glass box that both contrasts and complements the original house.

The footprint of the new garden room follows the geometry of the site and occupies an area that was previously hardstanding and gravel, offering views back across the garden towards the main house.

Outcome

The Extension

The fully glazed extension allows the interior of the building to visually dissolve into the garden beyond. It opens up views, bringing in daylight and offering a contemporary counterpoint to the existing building while being subservient in size.

Generous rooflights bring a sense of airiness and light, framed above by a datum of dark timber that serves as a continuation of the existing weatherboarding and ties the new form into the old.

The Garden Room

Clad in dark timber and glass, and topped with an extensive green roof, the garden room is immersed and almost camouflaged into the densely vegetated corner of the property.

Reveals are expressed with a contrasting natural timber, recalling the material dialogues of a Barbara Hepworth sculpture, with new aromatic planting installed beneath the window.