The Play Barn is a reinvention of that well known and much loved / despised type, the indoor play centre. Typically noisy hellholes with no daylight, full of plastic and smelling of urine and burgers, every parent has had to endure one of these at some point. Often they are very useful. The brief then was for adventurous play, close to nature in a place that would be a delight for parents and children. Key requirements were excellent daylight, natural ventilation and controlled sunlight with a visual connection to surrounding nature. The Play Barn Continues the theme of ‘natural play’ – play that allows young children to encounter risk, adventure, contact and appreciation of the natural world – set out in our masterplan for the reserve and already established in our adjacent outdoor play landscape. Architecturally, the strategy is clear - a reinvented / refined agricultural shed, with expressive exposed structure and refined cladding. Actually the envelope works very hard to achieve this ‘agricultural’ lightness - it is a full thermal envelope, fully naturally-ventilated. We enjoy the semi-permanent elements built in to factories and sheds – the small corner office/ store or a lifting platform – as seen in Becher photographs. Often these have an elegance and grace in their expediency, and a directness in their layering, giving surprising ‘undesigned‘ moments . In the Play Barn, the mezzanine seating, party room and service enclosures are treated in this way as an independent inhabitation. The relationship of the structure and this lining is therefore layered and with moments of celebrated disjunction (eg. the structure running across a window seat). We developed the conceptual design of the play equipment in parallel with the building. Actually this led to a very loose fit approach (the agricultural shed). Facade and structure are fixed whilst internal programmes and play structures manifest themselves within the armature. This allows full flexibility for the short-term updates and mid-term replacement typically required of play equipment. It has also allowed the client to pursue their own aesthetic for the equipment, albeit informed and underpinned by the early conceptual approach and design. The Play Barn is part of our master plan and overhaul of Pensthorpe Wildlife and Gardens. We have previously completed a natural play landscape and associated infrastructure.