London studio EBBA Architects has stripped years of clutter from a converted barn in Cornwall. The result is a family home with open, pared-back interiors and a new white stone cornish barn extension that reaches into the garden.
The building sits under a distinctive gambrel roof. It had already been through a barn conversion into a dwelling, but a run of incremental, ill-suited alterations and extensions had gradually obscured its agricultural origins.
Removing before adding
EBBA set out to restore the open spatial character of the Dutch barn. The team began by removing a number of later additions and keeping the principal structure of the existing house.
The original form was then extended by roughly a third, expanding its area by almost that amount. A full-width cornish barn extension at the rear completes the composition, creating a unified barn form from what had become a fragmented set of parts.
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The cornish barn extension in detail
The extension is a pavilion-like volume framed by columns of white stone. EBBA treats it as an independent object that reaches into the garden and absorbs the change in level, rather than as a continuation of the barn. Its roof stops short of the stone columns, so the joint between the two stays visible.
Benni Allan, EBBA’s founding director, told Dezeen that the concept was about “finding clarity in the form of the building.” He said the barn had collected piecemeal alterations that undercut its original simplicity, and that the studio’s process involved taking those later additions out before adding where it felt most appropriate.
A plan built around a stair
The ground floor is organised around the existing stair. A bathroom and storage core sits around it, separating the kitchen from the more open living spaces.
A row of full-height openings connects the old barn to the new cornish barn extension. There, a long, uninterrupted room holds a skylit dining area and a lounge, and it opens onto a covered colonnade through sliding doors.
The house is designed for a large family who will want the rooms to blend into one another. Allan said the studio likes flexible planform arrangements that suit different ways of living, and the layout reflects that priority.
Material junctions and restraint
Inside, the finishes follow the same logic of simplification. The walls are plaster, the floors are concrete, and the ceilings are gridded timber painted white.
EBBA also chose to expose how materials meet. A new oak column in the kitchen has been rotated to show where it joins the flitch plates that connect it to the exposed ceiling beams.
Outside, the existing barn is clad in reused cedar shingles. Where necessary, the team replaced damaged shingles with new ones. The extension uses white stone masonry that echoes the walls along the adjacent street.
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Allan said that at first glance the house looks like a simple barn. He pointed to a set of serious architectural moves softened by playful details, such as the exaggerated junctions and the contrast between textured columns and clear, gallery-like floors.
EBBA has completed other projects with a similar material approach. These include a cafe in Marylebone with clay plaster walls and an illuminated glass ceiling, and a London apartment for the firm’s founder lined with Douglas fir.
The barn keeps its original silhouette from the road, but its interior has been reset. That is the project’s central idea: remove what obscured the building, then add only where the form asks for it.
H/T dezeen.com
Frequently asked questions
Which studio designed the Cornwall barn conversion with a stone extension?
EBBA Architects, a London studio, designed the Cornwall barn home. The project removed later additions and added a white stone cornish barn extension that reaches into the garden.
How much was the original barn extended in this project?
The original form was extended by roughly a third, expanding its area by almost that amount. A full-width cornish barn extension at the rear completes the composition.
What material is the new cornish barn extension made from?
The extension is a pavilion-like volume framed by columns of white stone, and it uses white stone masonry that echoes the walls along the adjacent street. The existing barn is clad in reused cedar shingles.
What did EBBA Architects do to the barn before adding anything new?
EBBA began by removing a number of later additions that had obscured the building’s agricultural origins, while keeping the principal structure of the existing house. The studio’s aim was to restore the open spatial character of the Dutch barn before adding new volumes.
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