Coffey Architects’ Modern Barn in Dorset – ADC

London-based practice, Coffey Architects has completed the ‘Modern Barn’ – a new home for Dorset clients Alan and Alison.

Gently poking out from the sloping hillside of the Jurassic Coast, the Modern Barn takes the form of three pitched volumes, wrapped in timber. Arranged across one level that rises and falls as the house traverses the hillside site, the Modern Barn keeps low, with each volume remaining distinct and delineating different areas within the home.

A spacious living room and kitchen-diner provides a dramatic panorama out across the landscape and onto Charmouth Beach, the sea and Lyme Regis bay, with the site’s sloping topography amplified by the property being set deep into what is known as Stonebarrow Hill.

In the volumes behind can be found a master bedroom with an on-suite, as well as two further bedrooms, another bathroom, and a study. Linking these spaces together is a central corridor that, along the north-south axis it spans, provides hints and glimpses of the rural outdoors beyond.

“It’s warm and soft and sunny. The light and the way it runs through is incredible,” the clients said in a press release. “This home is like a slickly wrapped parcel and everywhere you look out you see green and blue – it’s absolutely wonderful!”

The house rests upon on a foundational plinth of Blue Lias stone, local to the area, with greyed larch timber batons being used to encase each volume. In doing so, guttering and downpipes have been concealed, creating a sleek profile that embeds itself into the natural setting as an unobtrusive, yet defined addition.

Meanwhile, hit and miss louvres on the east and west elevations add texture to the façade, giving each volume its own character as the sun casts shadows across the elegant building envelope. Also on the eastern side, just beyond the kitchen, a wide, walled-in area is dedicated to the owners’ love of hosting a good barbeque, with a strategically-placed window allowing food and serving items to be easily passed through.

“At Modern Barn there is a seamless integration of the external pattern and interior shadows which offers a compelling experience, imbues the building with a unique identity, and fosters a genuine sense of belonging to its surroundings. With a focus on sea, sunlight and warmth of materiality, this is rich internal landscape in which to live,” said Phil Coffey, director, Coffey Architects.