How this 18th-century English barn transformed into a modern smart home

By Jenny McGrath March 26, 2016

Forget Pottery Barn — this updated second home is known as the Ancient Party Barn. Originally an 18th-century threshing barn (threshing is the process by which cereal is separated from the chaff), U.K. architecture firm Liddicoat and Goldhill transformed the structure into a residence for digital designer John Sinclair and fashion designer Deborah Harvey, who collect salvaged architectural artifacts.

The buildings — the barn, stables, and dairy — on Staple Farm in Kent, England were in disrepair. The firm worked to salvage what they could and turn the barn into a home away from home for the couple. Though they wanted to maintain the “barn’s brooding presence,” according to the architects, they added modern amenities like a ground-source heat pump, LED lamps, and security systems. The lights, HVAC system, and security systems are all Internet-connected, so the owners can monitor their barn when they travel. There’s also a fireplace built into the spiral staircase, that leads up to the mezzanine sleeping area.

The most impressive part of the barn is how it transforms. It has insulated shutters that can be pulled back to reveal a rotating window that goes up and down, sort of like a glass garage door. It’s operated by an adapted chain-lift. There’s also an aircraft-hanger door that flips up to overhang the patio. These features allow the homeowners to take advantage of the farm’s scenery.

“The original green oak framing was in a state of near-collapse at the start of the project,” the architects explain on their site. They had it repaired, and the barn now has a insulated steel exoskeleton supporting the oak framing.

The barn was shortlisted for the Stephen Lawrence National Architecture Award, and the renovation cost over $682,000 (£480,000), according to Designboom.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Jenny McGrath is a senior writer at Digital Trends covering the intersection of tech and the arts and the environment. Before…

Smart Home

What is Matter and how does it fit into the smart home?

homepod mini on table edge side 2

While perusing smart home products, you might have seen the name "Matter" being tossed around. It can be challenging figuring out what that means without being sucked into an interesting (albeit unrelated) Wikipedia rabbit hole in physical sciences. We're going to give you the details on what Matter is and why you should care about it when building out your home with smart light bulbs, smart security cameras, smart locks, and every other connected home gadget you may want.
How does Matter work?
Matter is a way for your smart home devices to communicate with one another. By providing a common platform that manufacturers agree on, consumers can rest assured that their various products can work with one another. At least, that's the pitch on paper. From an end user's perspective, this means you could have a Matter-certified motion sensor trigger your Matter-certified smart lights, even though they're from different manufacturers. Currently, that relationship between devices can be complicated or slow, if it exists at all.

Matter and Developers

Smart Home

How your smart home can enhance your holiday party

iRobot's Roomba J7 robot vacuum cleaning near a Christmas tree.

How many times have you hosted a party for friends or family and stressed in the last hour to get everything perfect? Finally, it's your time to have the cool house on the block and show your guests a wonderful time. And smart home devices can help.

With a simple "Hey Siri, let's party!" your lights turn on, the music plays sweet melodies, and the blow-up Santa in the yard waves at the neighbors. With the abundance of smart home accessories available today, a daunting task such as hosting a Christmas party can be made simple and, better yet, automated. Let see what some of the best devices are to help and how you can use them to make your holidays easier.

Smart Home

Growth in the smart home will be fueled by these transformative trends

level fashions smallest smart lock ever made copy of iphone

After covering the mobile space for over a decade, I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived at Digital Trends to tackle the broader sphere with the smart home. Yet, here we are more than two years into the endeavor and it’s still overwhelming due to the sheer amount of product categories that encompass the smart home. It’s growing and will continue to grow, no doubt, but there’s still opportunity to increase its adoption. Yes, there are still people using incandescent bulbs!

Consumers are increasingly seeing the benefits of the smart home. Prices on many devices have fallen tremendously over the course of the last several years. Just look at smart light bulbs as an example, which started off costing $50 for a single color-changing bulb and are now available for around $20 for a four-pack. Needless to say, cost is no longer a valid excuse to not make the adoption.