3 Barns
A new self-build home that reads as a tight cluster of barns in the landscape: three simple volumes stitched together by a glazed link, anchored in red brick and wrapped in dark larch.
Services
Concept design, pre-application engagement, planning submission
Location
Worcester
Status
Planning
Year
24-25
The brief was to turn this complex infill site into a characterful, future-proof family home that feels rural rather than suburban, protects neighbour amenity and works with the site’s ecological and technical limits rather than fighting them.
Three barns, one home
Our response is organised as three narrow “barns” for living, entertaining and working which are linked by a light glazed spine. This broken plan keeps the overall mass domestic, threads views between the volumes and lets each wing take up its own role
Design Approach
Character, materials and facade strategy
A clear horizontal datum ties the architecture together: a robust red-brick base at ground level with a lighter, charcoal larch cladding above. The brick plinth roots the house in Worcestershire clay and echoes nearby agricultural buildings. Windows and openings are carefully edited – larger panes where views and light matter most, smaller or high-level openings where privacy is key.
Designed from key views
From the lane, the house feels robust and quietly confident; from the fields, it reads as a series of warm, inhabited barns facing the evening sun.
Thinking about a self-build or designing a new home?
This project demonstrates how a tricky infill plot can become a distinctive, sustainable self-build: a carefully scaled cluster of barns that balances family life, neighbourly massing, ecology and energy performance in one clear, characterful design.
If you’re considering a self-build on a constrained or leftover site, get in touch with Built Together to explore how we can unlock its potential.