The Old Byre
Isle of Wight, UK, 2021—2023

Set on a ridge amid acres of pasture above West Cowes, Isle of Wight, near shipyards and light industry, The Old Byre is a conversion of two farm buildings into a home that also affords residency and working spaces for visiting artists.

Insulated and wrapped in corrugated cement board on the outside, the project leaves the interior of the old barns largely intact, prioritising retention over demolition. Seen from the outside, The Old Byre appears indistinguishable from other farm buildings nearby. From the central courtyard on the other hand, where drift seeds and weeds grow in the cracks of the original surface and drains, a complex domestic exterior unfolds, framed by a translucent polycarbonate facade punctuated by large glazed aluminium doors which provide a separate entrance to each of the living and working spaces inside.

The two buildings that make up The Old Byre have been purposefully left disconnected. Daily life is animated by passages and crossings between private and social spaces, through the cool morning air, rain, summer heat. At night, the facade glows, intimating at activities on the inside. In the older barn, a house within a house has been built from spruce plywood. A back alley connects the more intimate, private interiors it harbours, tempered and modulated by full height doors without traditional handles or locks.

A concrete plinth supports the facade, frames the courtyard and continues into the interior, providing the connecting ground for the transformation within. Animals used to live here, now humans. The archetypes that animate the design of The Old Byre are the piazza, the archive, the sound of work and industry, the demand of the environment, the social, the sharing of food, and care.