Existing Building Award Winner 2016

Location: Wiltshire
Architect: Coppin Dockray
Structural Engineer: Tall Engineering
Main Contractor/Builder: J & C Symonds Ltd
Joinery Company: Westside Design
Wood Supplier: Meyer Timber Ltd, SMS Veneering Services, Oscar Windebanks Ltd
Photography: Brotherton Lock
Wood Species: Douglas Fir, Birch

Ansty Plum, a mid-century house designed by David Levitt and wood-lined stone studio designed by the Smithsons, has undergone a retrofit and studio extension. The buildings are situated on a steep wooded hillside overlooking a collection of 12th century buildings. The house has a simple open plan with a singular plane rectangular roof following the gradient of the land. The studio, hedged into the slope, peeps onto an ancient wooded track. Coppin Dockray transformed the house by removing many sequential changes made over the past 50 years to open up the house and express the architectonic qualities of the original Douglas fir construction. A new bedroom and study were created with bespoke Douglas Fir joinery. The derelict studio has been brought back to life, acting as an ancillary bedroom that glows pink with Douglas fir. A secluded shower room was created by extending into the hill. Access to the original drawings allowed Coppin Dockray to interpret many of the timber details.