GRAPHĒ: Done With Dairy Farming, a Couple Turned a Cow Barn Into Their Own Home

A U.K. couple have converted all five agricultural buildings on their Dorset property into a housing community.

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Project Details:

Location: Dorset, United Kingdom

Architect: David Kohn Architects / @officedka

Footprint: 3,186 square feet

Builder: Marks Building Services

Structural Engineer: Structure Workshop

Environmental Engineer: P3r Engineers

Cost Consultant: WT Hills

Photographer: Max Creasy / @maxcreasy

From the Architect: "Suzanne and Peter have lived at Middle Rocombe Farm since the early 1970s. Here they created the U.K.’s first organic ice cream factory, local arts venue the Art Farm Project, and raised a family while managing an organic dairy herd. Fifteen years ago they embarked on their most ambitious project, to convert the farm buildings into a housing community. Cowshed is the last of five buildings to be converted from agricultural to residential use, and now contains an artist studio, office, and a home, with rich connections to the surrounding landscape.

"David Kohn Architects has ensured that the original cowshed, which was built by Suzanne and Peter in 1979, has lost none of its agricultural identity. Like thousands of similar farm buildings it was built simply and cheaply with a concrete floor, concrete columns, blockwork walls, timber trusses, and timber cladding. As much of the original building as possible has been retained for planning, environmental and economic reasons, with two local materials—Cornish concrete blocks and Devon cedar boarding—enhancing the building’s straightforward materials palette. Inside, the exposed structure and surfaces continue this acknowledgement and celebration of Cowshed’s robust character and past life.

"Suzanne’s studio fills the main central space. Here the simplicity of the building acts particularly effectively: this light-filled room acts as the fulcrum of the home and as a backdrop for Suzanne’s artwork, which fills the space wherever one looks. An open-plan living/dining/kitchen area occupies a side aisle where the roof drops down to create a more intimate space, with bedrooms, office and study space similarly arranged around the edge of the main studio.

"One of the Redstone’s main requirements was for a building that would enable to them to live in the light, and feel part of the landscape to which they have been connected for almost fifty years. They also wanted to incorporate large windows and roof lights that fill the interiors with daylight and give views in all directions, David Kohn Architects have harnessed the building structure to create a large sheltered terrace to the entrance, with an outdoor workshop and studio to one side.

"The transition of Middle Rocombe Farm from a dairy farm to a residential community was not without difficulty: other elements were initially refused consent by planners, before a campaign by local residents and national design journalists helped to persuade councillors to approve the project. Cowshed, which proceeded thanks to changes in permitted development rights, now demonstrates how even the most prosaic and cost effective industrial structures can be wholly reused and repurposed to make affordable, playful, and welcoming homes. It represents a reconciliation of contemporary architecture and a traditional rural setting—and the latest chapter in Suzanne and Peter’s work to make Middle Rocombe Farm a place of community and innovation."