WHAT CAN GO WRONG WITH BARN CONVERSIONS?
Alan Tierney explains how to strike the balance between creating a modern living space and retaining original charm
Above and right: KSR Architects (
ksrarchitects.com) maintained the original charm of this barn, while transforming the interior into a lightfilled modern space. Extra care was taken to retain the external appearance of the building due to its position within an area of outstanding natural beauty
TONY MURRAY
Barns come with lots of historic character, which is why they present a superb opportunity to create an interesting and unusual home. One of the main goals of a conversion should be that the end result is still identifiable as an agricultural building. Of the common errors made on this type of project, there’s one that stands out: losing sight of the barn in the process. Unfortunately, it’s all too frequent for the scheme to create a standard modern structure in place of the original, with only minimal reference to how it was before.
Set your objectives
Firstly, ask yourself whether you actually want to live in this type of building. It’s easy to be seduced by the romance of an old agricultural property, when what you’re really after is a convenient modern house. Soaring full height spaces, quirky structural details and oodles of character are just a few of the things that make these buildings great homes.