Barrow House / ID Architecture
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Text description provided by the architects. Located in the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), this stunning, partially subterranean private property has scooped multiple prestigious awards including the celebrated Grand Designs House of the Year Longlist 2021, which featured on Channel 4.
Barrow House sits in its rural setting surrounded by wildflower meadows and overlooks an extensive private pond. From the public views the barn is modest in size and simple in form, carefully designed to resemble a brick and pantile barn, adopting the agricultural language of the area, whilst to the private side the living spaces are superbly connected to the extensive views over the Lincolnshire Wolds and towards the Bonze Age Barrow. It is one of the largest ’round barrows’ in Lincolnshire, measuring 30 metres wide and three metres high.
Our Clients approached ID Architecture with this previously farmed arable site in the open countryside, to create a family home for their young family. The wonderful open-valley surroundings dictated a Paragraph 55 (now P80), which required extensive consultation and liaison with the Planners, local community and other stakeholders. These types of application require the design to achieve such a degree of innovation, exceptional quality, and sensitivity that they can be considered to actually improve their locality. A tricky brief in an area of outstanding natural beauty and so close to the Barrow – a scheduled ancient monument.
Hailed as a “worthy and standout winner” of the prize at the grand final of the 2019 LABC National Building Excellence Awards in December, it features 18-metre-long sliding doors and a projecting master bedroom pod offering impressive views over the natural landscape and Bronze-Age Barrow. The simple above-ground barn form is true to the agricultural aesthetic of the area and was built with durable steel cladding – designed to gradually rust, turning orange then brown , as it is exposed to the elements. This structure sits on the semi-subterranean concrete plinth forming the ground floor entrance level, with the wildflower planted flat roof continuing, and connecting with the surrounding meadow. An extensive scheme of landscaping, local orchard planting, wildflower meadows and new tree planting all help in creating a home that is sensitively embedded within the landscape, reinstating the type of rolling meadow that would have once been abundant in the Wolds.
The planning process was positive, and thanks to open minded and trusted clients the application was unanimously supported at planning committee. The delivery of the project on site was aided by the Client’s family business that delivers civil engineering projects. Simple but crisp detailing further reinforced the simple forms and importance of the landscape that establishes Barrow House within its setting.
