Hopkiln Cottage
2016 - 2021
Hopkiln Cottage
2016 - 2021
Within view of the South Downs Way, the project featured the regeneration of a site previously owned by a local artist. An existing cottage was demolished, re-built and linked to the hop kiln barn which underwent a major overhaul and renovation.
The brief was to design a building that appeared like it had always been there. We used local materials and designed details to celebrate the craftmanship of building. Dark knapped flint was hand split on site and installed within a frame of red rubber brickwork. Steep pitched roofs with deep overhangs and handmade clay tiles establish a roof form that seems commonplace within the local vernacular.
For the barn, the approach was to conserve and repair sensitively whilst bringing the building and envelope to modern standards for habitable use. It was important to not lose the rugged character of its previous version. Existing rat-trap brickwork and oak trusses contrast against polished concrete floors and the creative use of colour and polished plaster alludes to its past use as a painter’s workshop.
New openings in the façade and a mezzanine bring light and new views towards both the Downs and the immediate gardens. We worked with landscape designer Mike Harvey Gardens to create a variety of spaces both formal and wild, blurring the edges of where the gardens stop, and the Downs begin.
