{"id":754260,"date":"2024-09-06T07:39:22","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T06:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=754260"},"modified":"2024-09-09T08:37:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T07:37:28","slug":"tom-parsons-completes-berkshire-home-office-with-saddle-shaped-roof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/buildings\/tom-parsons-completes-berkshire-home-office-with-saddle-shaped-roof","title":{"rendered":"Tom Parsons completes Berkshire home office with saddle-shaped roof"},"content":{"rendered":"

The studio sits at the top of a slope in the North Wessex Downs in an Area of Outstanding Beauty in Berkshire.<\/p>\n

The commission came about during a pause in the planning process in order to carry out a bat survey for an extension the architect was designing for the same client.<\/p>\n

Inspired by this, the studio has an expansive roof that soars up to frame vistas. The brief called for maximising the site\u2019s panoramic views while disturbing the surrounding landscape as little as possible. To take advantage of the area of the site with the best views, the studio was orientated at 45 degrees to the slope and partially sunk into the hillside.<\/p>\n

A saddle-shaped roof, which rises to the front, sits over Crittal-style, metal-framed doors. The roof swoops down at the rear to minimise its impact in the landscape.<\/p>\n

Formed out of CNC-milled birch ply, the roof beams slot into a supporting metal armature which obscures the metal frame once in place. A secondary structure of light, plywood beams and curved birch panels evoke the veiny underside of a bat\u2019s wing.<\/p>\n

The roof is clad in glass reinforced plastic, while the outside of the shed is of charred timber cladding to help it merge into the landscape.<\/p>\n

The studio provides space for a home office and gym.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Architect’s view<\/h3>\n

We had been working on an extension for the client but work paused when a bat survey was required for planning approval. Whist we were waiting for the bat survey the client asked us to look into designing a home office for them built into the hill above the main house.<\/p>\n

The first design decision was to rotate the building 45 degrees to the slope so that the doors faced towards the view across the valley. Turning the building this way meant the slope would intersect with the building on the back two sides, sloping symmetrically upwards. We decided two slot windows running parallel to the ground would work well here, and to balance the form we decided the front corner should be higher like the back corner. This resulted in a form with two high corners and two low corners. Drawing straight lines between these points could result in a pitched roof if drawn with a central ridge, or if drawn diagonally across it would result in a saddle shape.<\/p>\n

Saddle-shaped roofs and other hyperbolic paraboloids are uncommon because the curved form is more complicated to achieve than a standard rectilinear form, but there are some key references I drew upon whilst developing the design.<\/p>\n

Rather than run straight beams across the form, my design was to create a grid of curved beams running diagonally across. The first beam forms an arch between the two lower corners and supports the longest and most curved beam running from the back corner and cantilevering up to the highest point at the front of the building. I decided it could become an attractive feature to expose the structure on the underside of the roof. I designed the beams running front to back to be deeper and lower than the ones running side to side to accentuate the upwards \u2018whoosh\u2019 of the roof form.<\/p>\n

Each of the beams was custom cut from three staggered layers of birch ply. Each piece was drawn in exhaustive detail in the computer and cut out using a computer numerically controlled router. There were two outer layers of eighteen millimetres thick with a central piece 12mm thick, laminated together with dowels to prevent the pieces slipping relative to each other. The visible underside of each beam had the twelve millimetre piece recessed so that each beam had a groove along its centreline and appeared \u2018lighter\u2019. A relatively small edge beam runs around the exterior and is hidden by overlapping ceiling panels.<\/p>\n

A steel armature attaches the three low corners of the structure down onto a cast-in-situ concrete retaining wall. Constructed from 12mm-thick steel, the beams slot onto this in place of the central 12mm plywood layer. The bolts, other connecting metalwork and insulation is concealed behind thin 6mm plywood ceiling panels. Two layers of 9mm plywood were glued and screwed to the top of the beams to form the roof deck. On top of this a layer of oriented strand board (OSB) was attached along with a protruding edge \u2018lip\u2019. A glass reinforced plastic (GRP) roof covering provides the waterproofing.<\/p>\n

Frameless glass windows run around the perimeter at high level bedded into simple aluminium angle extrusion and allowing the roof to sail above the walls with no connection. A Crittal-framed pair of doors forms the front of the building, surrounded by charred timber cladding.<\/p>\n

Tom Parsons, director, T Parsons Design<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span>\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Project data<\/h3>\n

Start on site<\/strong> January 2021
\nCompletion<\/strong>\u00a0September 2022
\nGross internal floor area<\/strong> 12m2
\n<\/sup>Form of contract<\/strong>\u00a0N\/A
\nConstruction cost<\/strong> Undisclosed
\nArchitect<\/strong> T Parsons Design
\nClient<\/strong> Private
\nStructural engineer<\/strong> Webb Yates
\nMain contractor<\/strong> Design and Making<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The studio sits at the top of a slope in the North Wessex Downs in an Area of Outstanding Beauty in Berkshire. The commission came about during a pause in the planning process in order to carry out a bat survey for an extension the architect was designing for the same client. Inspired by this, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59337,"featured_media":754281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[706],"tags":[2151,6025,2530,101265],"yoast_head":"\nTom Parsons completes Berkshire home office with saddle-shaped roof<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Architect Tom Parsons has completed Bat Wing Studio, a hillside studio in the North Wessex Downs with office and gym and a swooping roof\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/buildings\/tom-parsons-completes-berkshire-home-office-with-saddle-shaped-roof\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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