EBBA Architects has completed the renovation and extension of a Dutch barn in Cornwall, transforming a building that had undergone numerous alterations over time into a cohesive family home. The project is guided by an ambition to retain the character and integrity of the original structure while introducing a new architectural language that brings clarity to the building’s form, construction and relationship with the surrounding landscape.

Over the years, the original house had been subject to a series of incremental additions and alterations, gradually obscuring the simplicity of its agricultural origins. Rather than treating these changes as a starting point for further expansion, EBBA sought to reconsider the building as a whole, identifying the qualities of the original structure and exploring how a new intervention could restore a sense of coherence.

The approach involved carefully removing a number of the later additions, retaining the principal structure of the existing house and extending its original form by approximately one third, and adding a full lenght extension to the rear. This process of subtraction and addition establishes a more unified barn form, with the new architecture to the rear conceived as an independent object that extends into the garden and address the change in level. The resulting composition seeks to balance the familiarity of the original structure with a contemporary expression of its construction.

To the south, the house presents a clean and formal elevation, bringing a renewed sense of order to what had previously become a fragmented arrangement of architectural elements. To the rear, a generous full-width extension opens the building towards a landscaped garden, establishing a stronger relationship between the domestic spaces and the surrounding landscape. The extension provides an opportunity to reconsider the organisation of the house, creating a more connected arrangement of spaces while retaining the qualities of the original building.