REINSTATING THE HISTORIC ASSET

The client had previously used The Pottery as their private studio, but approached Studio BAD to investigate the feasibility of sympathetically renovating the property back into a private domestic dwelling.

The Pottery sits on small narrow plot, just stepped back from a main road within the town of Whitchurch in Hampshire, within a Conservation Area. Originally designed as a house, the structure has been adapted over time and size reduced, adapting to the needs and uses of the times. Most recently the structure has been used as a pottery studio, however as the thermal performance of the existing fabric is extremely low making the building is uncomfortable to use no longer fit for purpose.

The client’s brief was to create a well-considered, spatially efficient and thermally high performing home that is fitting within its historic surroundings. It was important to keep as much of the original structure as possible to retain the historical aspects of the property including the Georgian façade of brick and flint, and deliver a sympathetically designed home that enhances the heritage and is a more positive contribution to the local community.

The design proposal seeks to retain the curtilage-listed fabric of the existing building, improve the roof form by re-instating a more traditional pitched metal roof and add a modest extension, which is design as subservient and modern in design with a flat green roof form. The new elements will contrast from the existing greatly with contrasting brick colour and metal-seamed roof to make the history of the architecture clear to read, retaining the integrity of existing.

Internally the ground floor is designed as a generous open plan space with a large glazing wrapped around the good sized courtyard garden to enhance the sense of inside and outside living. The new gabled roof, designed sensitively to the massing of surrounding properties, creates space to provide two bedrooms, a bathroom and study area.

To reduce the energy input requirements of the property the insulation levels would be increased, in the walls and roof, maximizing the air tightness and introducing triple glazed windows and doors throughout.