Organic Farm

Following on from the construction of a modern family house replacing the original farm house we were asked to look at extending the existing farm to create a modern organic farm with facilities for visits from schools or other interested groups.

The visual impression of the farm from the access road was an important consideration for the client and planners and this led to a masterplan approach of forming a ‘farm within a farm’. 

The original farm comprised a small open courtyard formed by simple group of brick buildings. Behind this a number of industrial units had been introduced in an ad hoc manner over time.

The original brick farm buildings are visible from the access road and have a degree of charm and character so these have been retained and refurbished to provide a farm office, staff welfare, stores and visitor facilities together with some small animal pens. 

To ensure good ventilation the buildings are clad with timber boards down to 1.2 metres with the long elevations are articulated by expressing the galvanised structure. Ridge ventilation – essential to the health of the livestock – is expressed as a positive feature along the ridgeline. 

Clean roof rainwater is collected and used for watering the animals, with yard and all other dirty water filtered through tanks into a reed bed system before it enters the adjacent stream.