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The House Through the Red Gate

Wiltshire

Project Details

£0.5m to £0.99M

Practice

Artel31

5 Union Road , Chippenham , Wiltshire , SN15 1HW , United Kingdom

Like so many Cotswold farmyard conversions, The House Through the Red Gate was formed from two listed Cotswold-stone byres. While there were advantages in their isolation, it meant that portions of the house felt very disconnected, from both each other and the gardens between. Taking cues from tin-roofed pole barns, prevalent in many old farmyards, we assembled a large open-plan kitchen/garden room to linked the two disparate sides of the house. The full glazed walls integrate the courtyard garden, with a new gatehouse formed to act as the front door and ensure privacy. Our client’s narrative identity was utilised in the form of a moon gate and further celebrated in the landscaping, with the circular form contrasting and softening the orthogonal nature of the extension. Boreholes were added to the courtyard to facilitate a GSHP, with an outbuilding housing the PV cells, batteries and car chargers. An LVL roof was used to create the thin cantilevered shading to the glazing, ensuring contemporary and sustainable solutions without negatively impacting the listed heritage asset. Sustainable Measures: Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP), Photovoltaic panels, battery storage & electric car charging, Triple glazing, Solar panels, Internal thermal mass, Natural, sustainable and reused materials, Environmental construction policy to minimise chemical use and construction waste, Passive solar gain regulation/orientation studies undertaken during design, High insulation levels (low U and Y values), Biodiverse landscaping.