Manor House Stables in the Hampshire countryside

Manor House Stables was once a stable that housed a retired racehorse named “Lovely Cottage” in Headbourne Worthy, Winchester, United Kingdom. The stables were once beautiful and functioning but have since the mid 1900’s have remained unused and have fallen into shambles. Since the stable block is steeped in historical character, it has since been transformed into an elegant and contemporary three bedroom family home by AR Design Studio. The concept was to preserve the existing while making any new additions simple and pure in order to let the original character shine.

This results in an innovative arrangement of spaces according to the Stable’s existing layout, in order to maintain many of the existing exposed timber interior walls. These were then cleaned, stripped back and refurbished to reveal an exquisite amount of detailing and craftsmanship. With the existing internal walls brought back to life, the next task was to turn the Stables into a home for the modern family and bring it into the present day. In order to respect the character of the property a clean, contemporary and neutral approach was taken to the rest of the renovation which juxtaposes perfectly with the original timber walls, allowing them to stand out as pieces of art against a beautifully simple contemporary backdrop.

Many of the existing features were refurbished and re-purposed for use in the home environment; the original horse troughs were cleaned and converted for use as sink basins, the old horse ties act as towel rings in the bathrooms and original doors are preserved where possible to give a sense of real period character. The Stables benefit from three large double bedrooms, with two en-suite rooms to accompany a spacious family bathroom.

Being a single storey property with long continuous views, the layout was tailored and split between sleeping and living accommodation with a single constant circulation running through the entire building. The welcoming and spacious open-plan kitchen dining area is conveniently located at the heart of the home, leading into the light and roomy lounge which benefits from full height glazed doors that open out onto the sleepy village setting.

Lighthouse 65 by AR Design Studio

This spectacular contemporary residence has just recently been designed by the Winchester-based architecture firm AR Design Studio, who sent us photos of this amazing development. The 2,000 square foot property is located in Hill Head along the south coast of England in the United Kingdom. From the architects: “This super insulated, luxury 3 bedroom house sits in a beautiful water side location on the South Coast, enjoying stunning views of the Solent and the Isle of Wight. The design concept was to maximize the building’s width, so every key room enjoys expansive views of the vista; all bathrooms and utility spaces run at the rear of the property, allowing this.

The house sits 7 meters below road level with the roof acting as a parking deck for 3 cars. The house is accessed via an illuminated glass cube that tops a concrete stair core; the ‘lighthouse’ that gives the house its name. At night the lit glass glows to indicate local weather conditions: green when weather is fair and red when atmospheric pressure drops, warning passing yachtsmen of possible stormy conditions.

Visually the roof and floor decks are hung from the central concrete core, terminating in large cantilevers that provide shade and open-air shelter to the ground floor.”

Visit the website of AR Design Studio here.

Photos: Courtesy of AR Design Studio