Dairy House, Somerset
From Archiplanet
 | Dairy House |
| Designer | SCDLP, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Location | Somerset, Somerset, England, United Kingdom |
| Date | 2006 |
| Building Type | Small House |
| Construction System | Black slate, Hadspen sandstone, moss agate, and blocks of estate oak |
| Climate | Mild Temperate |
| Context | Rural estate |
| Street Address | |
| Notes | Conversion of a former dairy to a 5-bedroom house with 3 baths and a small bathing pool. |
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| Building Details | |
| Cost | £478,000 |
| Site | an 850-acre estate |
| Awards | Royal Institute of British Architects Design Award 2007, Wessex. |
| Other Details | Materials chosen for optical effect: prismatic, laminated float glass; two-way mirror; telescopic lenses; and a reflecting pool. |
The conversion of a former Dairy to a five bedroom, three bathroom house with a small bathing pool. The challenge was to complement the existing structures with minimal external impact, while opening up the interior to create a flowing, unified, internal space.
Local materials such as estate oak, and stone rescued from the site during excavation were used throughout, and the aesthetic of the new structure was influenced by the raw planks stacked with spacers for drying in the barns opposite the site.
The cottage has been simplified to create a more spacious living sequence and the new additions provide what the old house lacked – an entrance with some presence, generous circulation and extensive bathing - yet it’s also a discreet coup de theatre that gives the earthbound vernacular a more complex alter ego. Ordered around the celebration of water – the pool started as a shallow reflecting mirror to bounce light into the back of the house and grew to a habitable depth - the bathrooms are constructed by layering oak and thick green float glass, the eerie light and dematerializing effect of reflections making it seem an aquatic underworld.
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