IF_DO’s highly accomplished barn conversion in Suffolk employs a series of delicate interventions that are mostly freestanding and demountable.
IF_DO has transformed a 17th century, Suffolk-based agricultural building into a gallery for the display and storage of 20th century paintings and furniture. An earlier restoration of the grade II-listed structure in 2009 upgraded the thermal envelope, but made no provision for showing art.
Conceived as a pair of prefabricated ‘pavilions’ – one at either end the barn – the project adds just 38 square meters to the existing 308-square-metre footprint, while creating a sequence of intimate spaces that add to the enjoyment of the art. The interior interventions are free-standing and demountable, with the only permanent modifications to the building fabric comprising five new windows in the gable end walls, a flue through the roof, a polished concrete floor, and pad foundations beneath the existing slab.
The southern pavilion weaves a series of intimate spaces around a three-storey tower structure, and includes a study, snug, and minstrels gallery linked by two staircases. A pair of slatted timber ‘rood screen’ walls admit light into the body of the barn, while partially concealing the main staircase. The free-standing nature of the structure means that the 19-square-metre southern mezzanine is cantilevered from steelwork concealed within the chimney breast, as well as the three-storey tower structure. Two fireplaces, one at ground level and the other on the mezzanine create comfortable seating areas within the barn.
The northern pavilion provides 13-square-metres of storage with timber shutters beneath a mezzanine that serves as a stage for a grand piano. The quality and finish of the construction materials are celebrated throughout the scheme, with carefully book-matched grain on the oiled Ash timber joinery, polished concrete elements, and the natural grain of steel expressed through the application of a blackened finish.
Axonometric drawings of the two prefabricated ‘pavilions’
Glazed doors mounted behind the barn’s solid timber doors improve the thermal performance of the main space. The building has been connected to an estate-wide heat network, along with the installation of gallery-quality lighting and climate control.
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