Project Description and location:
This was a proposed development to extend and enhance existing café and restaurant at
The Old Barn Garden Centre
Dial Post
West Sussex
RH13 8NU
The project parameters.
The proposed development was to demolition the existing single storey toilet block to allow the construction of a new Link Barn between the existing coffee house and the Old Barn, along with the construction of a new, enlarged, kitchen facility adjoining the Old Barn.
This provides approx…155m² of additional seating area which will serve both the coffee house and the Old Barn in order to make better use of the facilities and improve upon the existing catering provision.
The remaining proposed space within the Link Barn is taken up with new toilet facilities and circulation space.
An increase of over a 100m² to the kitchen facilities has greatly improved the catering provision, and therefore have a positive impact on the garden centre as a whole.
The project vision.
The concept behind the new structures was to create a contemporary version of the Old Barn, utilising the vernacular design language through the roof pitch and proportions of the new structures.
The existing Old Barn had an exposed oak superstructure which is echoed in the new Link Barn by utilising exposed glulam columns and beams to expose the internal superstructure of the Link Barn.
Externally, the barns have been designed in a contemporary style, with detailing to complement the clean lines formed by the new zinc cladding to both the Link and kitchen barns.
The windows and doors to the Link Barn are in a frameless type system to continue the contemporary detailing to the zinc.
The existing coffee house was re-roofed with clay roofing tiles to match those on the Old Barn.
The existing brickwork has been cladded with blackened horizontal ship-lap timber cladding to echo the cladding on the Old Barn.
The materials have been chosen mainly for their visual appearance in providing a contrast with the existing materials on the Old Barn, but also for their longevity and minimum of maintenance.
The materials maintain their colour and finish over time and will weather at the same pace.
