What was the brief?
As the workforce at Richard Parr Associates (RPA) began to grow, the practice was in need of additional breakout space, flexible meeting area for clients as well as a new studio and library for its founder Richard Parr. RPA saw the opportunity to rework an existing grain loft, one of the last remaining buildings to be converted on the estate, into a self-contained light-filled workspace for the practice’s countryside studio, including a kitchen and shower room.Located at Easter Park Farm, a model farm created for the Woodchester Park Estate in the mid 19thCentury, the studio is made up of a series of renovated agricultural barns and overlooks Richard Parr’s home which he has gradually restored over the last decade. The project, which only took 10 months to complete, added to what was a modest studio with eight workstations and a sample room located in barns that were formerly a hayloft, cow shed, dairy barn and a bull pen.
What were the key challenges?
One of the key challenges was to ensure that the existing features were restored sensitively whilst adding modern interventions to create the perfect juxtaposition between old and new in the new studio. For example, the existing loft had fallen into disrepair over the years so, with the exception of one Cotswold stone wall, this had to be rebuilt. Characterised by a traditional pyramid pitched roof structure made from limed Douglas fir, chosen for its sustainability, lightness and appearance, this new intervention is visually distinct yet in keeping with the original buildings.
What materials did you choose and why?
Easter Park Farmcontrasts industrial and traditional materials which have been carefully selectedfor each area of the studio. Starting with the ground floor entrance which serves as a meeting place for clients as well as an informal breakout space, traditional texture and contemporary sharpness contrast to create a simple yet welcomingaesthetic for visitors. Old stone-rustic walls are retained and combined with appropriated stable block flooring that was salvaged from another part of the farm whilst an industrial steel staircase leads up to the first floor.
For the first-floor studio space, recycled rubber flooring runs throughout,with a ceiling comprised of wood wool panels which have been left in their natural state.A timber pod containing the shower room and kitchen is panelled and painted with a raw plaster paint colour, providing hidden storage and open bookshelves. A wooden panelled wall, handmade by the late Berthold Lubetkin and rescued from a farmhouse in a neighbouring village where he once stayed, is located to the left of the stairwell, paying homage to the pioneer of British modernism.
Material Used :
1. Facade cladding: No cladding – walls are made from stone
2. Flooring: Recycled rubber flooring
3. Windows: Glass
4. Roofing: Limed Douglas fir
