BARN CONVERSIONS
QThe barn conversion we’re buying has scope to create wonderful living spaces but how can we use the scale of the barn to make it feel like a home?
AAgricultural buildings share similarities with industrial buildings: large scale, open-plan and tall; sometimes with an upper level. Traditional barns are either constructed of timber frame or of local masonry.
Take advantage of the impressive scale of spaces in a barn. Wherever possible, see if a plan can be resolved with a minimum of structural intervention. It’s also a good idea to resist any desire to maximise the number of rooms by dividing the space into domestically sized cells. This approach will destroy the scale of the existing barn. Instead, create privacy using strategically placed screens, built-in furniture and partitions.
The size of the spaces should correspond with their hierarchy. Living, dining and bedroom areas are the largest, working down through to kitchens, hallways, bathrooms, and utility areas.
Another key way of unlocking potential is making the best use of openings for daylight. Start by taking advantage of any existing openings within the barn. Nevertheless, you will probably find that the interior is too dark for a domestic environment and it will be necessary to carefully place new openings.
The extent of new openings will be case-dependent and influenced by the historic nature of the building. Clever methods of bringing daylight into a barn include installing glazing externally without disturbing ancient timber frames, providing glazed strips at the junction between the wall and roof eaves and installing translucent roof coverings.
Consider the views and the spaces beyond the barn in relation to the interior spaces, too. I like to regard external spaces as an extension of the internal ones, aligning vistas to create processional routes, and framing features, such as church spires or ancient trees as references for orientation.
The tall spaces found in barns may lend themselves to creating multi-level spaces. More often, though, existing heights are not quite tall enough to create two levels, or you find that there is an ancient structural tie in exactly the wrong place. A poorly designed mezzanine can result in a dark ground level space with restricted daylight and low ceiling levels. Added to this, many barns have steeply pitched roofs restricting the usefulness of the spaces beneath the eaves.
Additionally, warm air accumulates in tall spaces, termed the stack effect. When you are designing in tall services think carefully about ventilation. A mechanical heating and ventilation system is a good way to redistribute high-level warm air where it is needed.
BARN EXTERIORS
Typically agricultural buildings are maintained in an unsentimental practical manner. Ad-hoc repairs utilising hardwearing, cheap materials such as corrugated metal, concrete and timber, add an unconscious beauty.
Don’t assume that timber-clad barns were always painted black. It is thought that their black appearance originally derived from the practice of applying tar to the timber cladding. Similarly, the red oxide barns found in America evoke a memory of linseed oil and rust coatings. To aid longevity, limewash, tar, linseed oil mixed with rust, flax and milk were all applied to the natural timber cladding of timber-framed barns.
Agricultural buildings are an important part of both our historical and local contexts. As well as finding a new use for redundant buildings, the overriding aim should be to safeguard the characteristics of the original building within its setting. When undertaken well, adaptive re-use is an appropriate method of ensuring this.
David Nossiter
“Preparing a full set of Building Regs information is complex. It will usually require technical drawings and specifications, which form the basis of construction information”
QBUILDING REGS Who can help me prepare Building Regulations information?
APreparing a full set of Building Regulations information is complex. It will usually require technical drawings and specifications, which form the basis of construction information. As such, a good design team is needed to make all the necessary contributions, including your architect or architectural designer, structural engineer, and mechanical and electrical (M&E) engineer, among others. A lead consultant, usually your architect, will then be responsible for coordinating and collating all relevant information for submission to building control, who can be from the public sector (your local authority) or private sector (an approved inspector). If there is only one point of contact it makes communication channels easier to manage. Tara Gbolade
QCONVERTING AN INDOOR POOL We have an indoor swimming pool approximately 50 feet long by 14 feet wide and it tapers down in depth from approximately 5 feet to 2.5 feet. We don’t use the pool any more, so we want to fill it in and turn the room into a large kitchen. Can you advise us on the best material to use to fill in this pool? Also, because the house containing the pool is situated three feet away from a deep dingle, would it be prudent to get the advice of a structural engineer before proceeding with this project?
AThe new kitchen floor that you want to create in place of your old swimming pool will require a Building Regulations application as it’s a structural alteration. The simplest method would probably be to construct a conventional solid concrete floor to fill the large void. Essentially this would involve installing a level base of compacted hardcore with a reinforced poured concrete slab formed on top. A layer of rigid floor-grade insulation would then be laid before levelling the whole kitchen floor surface with a suitable screed, leaving it ready for your choice of floor coverings.
However, rather than completely filling in the old pool it would be well worth investigating alternative designs that use the existing subfloor space.
One possibility could be to use part of the old pool as a ‘spiral wine cellar’ accessed via a hinged structural glass floor, which could be either circular or rectangular. This could make a useful and stylish space-saving feature that would beautifully complement your new kitchen.
If you do decide to retain the space under the new kitchen floor then a suspended concrete beam and block floor structure would probably be the best option. A structural engineer will need to advise on how best to support the beam ends, perhaps via ground beams spanning from new masonry piers erected adjacent to the sides of the pool opening.
Before finalising the solution, however, the load-bearing capacity of the ground around the pool would also need to be assessed and any associated voids and drainage channels and other potential weak points filled with concrete. The close proximity to the ‘deep dingle’ that you mention will also need to be factored into the design calculations. Ian Rock