In a close collaboration with Dan Pearson, the existing steep topography was sculpted to give habitable platforms and cascading gardens and to allow this collection of small buildings to both nestle into and spring from the hillside. The Milking Barn strongly marks the edge of the habitable territory of house and gardens and grows out of a new retaining wall and stair. A belvedere terrace and a picture window look out over fields and along the valley. The original barn is retained and extended in a direct unaffected manner - an abstraction of the materiality and tectonics of rough agricultural buildings. The architecture is poised between formal composition and the looseness of the ‘as found’, giving an open relaxed feeling of being undesigned. The roofscape uses a simple hip end to bring a soft folding topography of its own. The new elements are stitched in to the original building, to create an ensemble that is both raw and refined. Inside, a ceiling of wood cement boards gives a warm tactility and a soft acoustic hush. Deeper into the building the furniture, stairs, balustrades and flooring are of dark stained timber board. This darkness, amongst luxurious gardens and the open valley creates a powerful atmosphere of intimacy and connection to nature. The building forms the heart of both a creative retreat and a working farm.