Structure studio DROO has prolonged and refurbished Arc Polo Farm in Surrey, UK, including a clubhouse clad in charred timber to an present ensemble of barns and stables.
After the polo membership was lately acquired by new house owners, DROO was approached to refurbish its stables and coaching areas and complement them with an occasions area for visitors to view matches.
The studio’s masterplan for Arc Polo Farm is knowledgeable by the Japanese idea of “shakkei” or “borrowed surroundings”, and goals to border views of the present panorama with an arc-shaped route across the central polo discipline.
On the centre of the route is the clubhouse, a single-storey construction that attracts from the barns on the location. It has a gabled, spruce-framed construction clad in picket shingles which were charred utilizing the Japanese strategy of Shou Sugi Ban.
“Shakkei is the method of designing a backyard round a borrowed panorama, like a body round a distant tree or a mountain,” DROO founder Amrita Mahindroo advised Dezeen.
“We wished to show the concept of borrowing from context a bit on its head, as we are sometimes pushed to borrow from constructed context, even in essentially the most absurd situations the place the panorama context bears a lot extra weight than a close-by steady,” she added.
The arc-shaped route is framed by two oak bushes on the location, one subsequent to the present stables to the east and the opposite on the fringe of the open fields to the west, the place there’s a paved patio with an out of doors kitchen.
The northern facade of the clubhouse is gently curved to hug the arc-shaped path, with a wood-decked veranda offering area for spectators to look at video games on the polo discipline.
“We wished to create a barn-like construction with deep verandas which might second as outside rooms to look at the matches from,” Mahindroo advised Dezeen.
“While the clubhouse constructing itself is a modest dimension in sq. meterage it feels expansive because of the ideas of shakkei,” she added.
Inside, the glue-laminated timber (glulam) construction is left uncovered. Spruce beams and oak panelling distinction an finish wall of veined stone that frames a hearth.
“We wished to create rhythmically panelled room finishes which might age majestically and develop a lovely patina with time, in addition to categorical the joints between every panel,” stated Mahindroo.
To keep up and irrigate the encompassing fields at Arc Polo Farm, the clubhouse funnels rainwater into assortment pits that lead into a close-by lake.
Within the present barns, a fitness center and exercise area for riders has been added, alongside enhancements to drainage, water administration and thermal efficiency.
DROO was based by Mahindroo and Michel Da Costa Goncalves and has workplaces in London, Paris and Melbourne.
Earlier tasks by the studio embrace the extension of a warehouse in London with 4 adaptable residences and an workplace and condominium constructing in Shoreditch with a “crumpled paper” facade.
The images is by Henry Woide.
