‘I realised we’d spent £700,000 mud’ on an awful lot of
A DRAUGHTY OLD BARN IN A MUCKY FIELD BECAME A SCANDI-CHIC RURAL RETREAT FOR A LONDON DESIGN DUO, FINDS OLIVER STALLWOOD
THE name sounds just right for a killer robot from the future – but DUT18 is a tranquil retreat in 14 acres of Warwickshire countryside. The creation of Laura and David Johnston’s seven-bedroom Dutch barn began as a bit of a laugh. On the lookout for a holiday home with a difference, Laura jokingly sent a text to David with a link to a field for sale, with a very cold and draughty looking agricultural barn, in Long Compton, within easy reach of Stratford-uponAvon and Oxford.
Intrigued, they went to investigate. ‘It was a nice, bright day, the barn seemed a bit flimsy but big,’ recalls David. ‘But the area struck me as magical. We went to the pub afterwards just a stone’s throw away and the kids played in the beer garden while the sun went down. The whole area has an incredibly intense feel to it and to me, it felt a bit like fate.’
That was two years ago. Within a few weeks the couple, who run a design studio in Hackney, had bought the barn, complete with hardcore floors mixed with manure, breeze block walls and corrugated cladding, and its very large muddy field, for £700,000.
‘I remember the first time we walked around the field having purchased it and it occurred to me that we now owned a lot of mud,’ says David. Planning consent had been secured to turn it into a holiday home, but the next two years would create something a bit more than your usual weekend getaway.
The unloved barn became not only a Scandi-minimalist bolthole for David and Laura to escape London life, but also a space where creatives and pioneers will be able to get away from it all – to refresh, rethink and rewire – in order to tackle the unique problems we are facing as a society. Being in the barn is like a meditation, says David, where visitors can clear their minds of clutter and noise.
‘We’re in a time of huge upheaval where everything we know feels like it’s falling apart and changing, which is why I feel like now is the perfect time for self-reflection. The workshops we’ll host at the barn will be a space for people and businesses to focus internally to discover what their goals are, ultimately helping them to find a new purpose in the world. We feel that just being in nature has a healing and therapeutic effect. This rejuvenating effect is one of the barn’s greatest attributes.’ attributes ’ Hackney architecture studio Turner Works, which had worked on David and Laura’s London home, was appointed to steer the project. The design process took five months. Over the following 12 months, with the couple overseeing on regular visits, the utilitarian agricultural structure was transformed into a modern holiday home. The costs were, arguably, modest considering the size of the property and land, with £54,000 architect fees, £440,000 build and £80,000 for fixtures and fittings. Total cost was less than £1.3million – the price of a three-bedroom flat in West Hampstead.
‘Various minor tweaks to designs have occurred through the planning process, which has sometimes got the heckles of the local community up,’ says Laura. ‘Key in that process has been reassuring our new neighbours and community at every stage that we are incredibly respectful to the area – which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – and fully respect the dark skies policy.’
The barn has been wrapped with black corrugated steel, echoing the original silver panels. Where there were original openings for large agricultural vehicles, there are now huge windows that frame views across rolling hills and countryside. Around 2,200sqft of scaffold board decking surrounds the base of the building, connecting the interior with the surrounding fields and encouraging activity to spill outdoors.
Inside, the accommodation is arranged over two floors. At groundfloor level, the layout creates a large, open-plan space zoned into a sequence of areas for playing, cooking, dining and living.
There is a clarity to the design without it being overbearingly minimalistic. The dining room table and built-in seating consists of a pre-existing customised metal frame topped with Douglas fir.
It has a 1960s commune aura, inclusive and utterly focused on the tradition of group eating.
Exposed wood is everywhere, bringing an organic aesthetic to the white walls and simple, concrete industrial floor.
Wood, concrete and neutrals is hardly a look that hasn’t been done before, but here the conception is especially beautiful. The huge, blue velvet sofa from Sofa.com adds a plush yet unfussy comfort to this room. White walls and sliding doors create a calming backdrop throughout the barn, complemented by elements in Douglas fir, concrete, stainless steel and metallic textiles.
David says: ‘Laura and I created DUT18 to bring together two arts of living not often combined: the elegant pause of minimalist design and the messy, pagan pulse of nature worship – a sleek and stealthy piece of Dutchstyle architecture set under the old gods of dark-sky stars.’
The double-height living area features an upper-floor balcony, creating a feeling of spatial generosity at one end of the home. Most of the furniture is either customised or bespoke. The bench on the landing, the banister – inspired by one of the couple love at Tate Modern – and the
big shelf next to the dining table were all designed by Turner Works and then produced as bespoke pieces of carpentry. Upstairs, the bedrooms are sanctuaries of peace with almost no colour apart from the greens of trees through the windows.
White tiles in the bathroom appear as an ode to graph books from a school maths class. ‘The material palette is as reduced as possible,’ explains Laura, ‘allowing the material to create the palette – greys from the concrete floor and stainless steel worktops, grains creating shades of browns.
‘The walls, everything is white, white, white, to allow those materials to really speak.’
When permissible under Covid restrictions, the couple have used the barn as a saviour, for reflection and release. The Rollright Stones, ancient megalithic monuments, are close by.
‘There is something powerful about spending time somewhere you can see the sun rise every morning and set every evening,’ says David.
Laura adds: ‘It’s magical. And it seems to amplify emotions. I think being immersed in nature feels sublime.’
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