Holly Barn

Project Info

Natural timber boarding was used for the roof and walls of the new Holly Barn to resonate with the traditional construction of local windmills, boat houses and boat construction of The Broads. The walls are clad in alternating strips of wide and narrow Siberian larch ship lapped boards. The gables are fully glazed, but screened by deep louvered Iroko slatted panels. The sliding windows were manufactured in Iroko timber. The roof is clad in lapped Siberian larch boards. The boards were selected to use the natural tendency of the timber to bow and cup to improve water shedding: heart side out on the upper boards, and heart side in on the lower boards. Narrow horizontal slots were routed into the external boarding, on several elevations as Bat boxes.

The internal planning of the house has been carefully designed to give total mobility to the client who is wheelchair bound. There are many curved walls and corners, which not only give delight, but importantly make wheeled mobility much easier.

The ground floor contains the family areas of the house. The bedrooms have been designed as small monastic cells, each identified by a different pastel coloured wardrobe constructed from MDF. An undulated wall, forms reveals for the French Doors (manufactured out of Iroko) to be held when open.

The first floor is very open. A clean barn like volume has been created with the powerful all enclosing smooth curved ceiling expressed, enjoyed, and seen running from one end to the other. The space dividing walls stop at eaves height and above is glass (to give acoustic separation) so that the volume and visual experience of the roof is uninterrupted. A beautifully curved eaves terminates the smooth ‘shell like’ plastered ceiling. Large sliding windows manufactured out of Iroko, along the south side, give uninterrupted views of the horizontal Broads landscape. An Oak floor runs along the main circulation route on the south side.