BORD
Wooden ceiling with exposed beams and a skylight window letting in natural light.
Interior image of Gwel Y Garn under construction
Wooden frame structure of a building under construction with large window and door openings, set against a backdrop of trees, hills, and a partly cloudy sky at sunset.
Interior view of a room under construction with exposed stone walls, unfinished wiring, a striped rug on the floor, and a ladder near a large window letting in natural light.
Interior of a room under construction with a metal ladder leaning against a wooden beam ceiling, a workbench holding power tools and wood pieces, large window showing outdoor greenery, tiled floor scattered with wood shavings and extension cords.
Narrow room under construction with green square tiles on walls, a large window facing outside, a metal ladder resting on the windowsill, a small step stool with a cloth and tile spacers, and a radio connected to a wire.
Close-up of a wooden fence with vertical planks and visible screws, with some white marks, under a cloudy sky and trees in the background.
Close-up of a wall section showing a bottom row of irregular gray and brown stones held in mortar, a metal flashing strip above them, and vertical red-orange wooden planks with visible wood grain and screws at the top.

ERYRI HOUSE

Eryri house is the culmination of over 6 years work, from concept to site, navigating the restrictive planning requirements of the Eryri National Park and finding the right local craftspeople with the knowledge and experience of complex rural sites and natural material construction.
‍
Bord were approached to design an extension to an existing barn conversion with the aim of extending the lifespan of the building with accessible ground floor living spaces for the ageing clients. Other key aspect for the brief we were set included opening the home up to the extensive views across the valley, increased access to natural light, open plan, lofty living spaces and improving the existing homes access and circulation.

The proposal was conceived to sit alongside the current home as a 'little sibling', sympathetic to the existing form, volume and material pallets, but expressed as a lighter, more modern addition. Whereas the existing barn is constructed of large, continuous stone walls with small openings, the extension borrows from the lightweight hay barns of the area, with smaller columns of stone forming the elevations. Openings all span between the ground plane and the timber gables, reducing the volume of stone and creating vertical expression.

Five hand-drawn architectural sketches of a two-story house with a pitched roof shown from an angled view, arranged in two rows; top row shows three sketches of the house with different colored highlighted boxes (red) on doors and windows, and arrows indicating features; bottom row features two combined building structures with additional annotation arrows in yellow and red pointing to roofs, doors, and windows, representing a massing planning diagram.

The proposal was conceived to sit alongside the current home as a 'little sibling', sympathetic to the existing form, volume and material pallets, but expressed as a lighter, more modern addition. Whereas the existing barn is constructed of large, continuous stone walls with small openings, the extension borrows from the lightweight hay barns of the area, with smaller columns of stone forming the elevations. Openings all span between the ground plane and the timber gables, reducing the volume of stone and creating vertical expression.

Hand-drawn architectural floor plan of a single-story house including multiple rooms, outdoor patio area with table and chairs, garden beds along pathways, driveway with a parked car, and surrounding landscaping details.
Simple black and white line drawing of a small house with a slanted roof, one rectangular window on the left, and a door on the right.
Black and white striped pattern resembling piano keys with alternating vertical black and white rectangles topped by a textured horizontal rectangle.

Natural, low impact, low carbon, bio-degradable and locally sourced materials were used where possible: stone excavated from site was used for facing, reclaimed welsh slates for the roof, locally grown and milled larch for the internal structure and cladding. The main structure is formed in a prefabricated timber frame allowing the shorter building season to be taken advantage of. Wall and roof Insulation is made up of Yorkshire grown hemp. Internally, a calm palette of lime based plasters and British ash cladding emphasises the rich tones of the larch roof structure. This calmness at low level was also introduced to allow the emphasis of the framed views. Whislt the existing home is about looking inwards, cosy, almost defensive spaces, the new spaces become about celebrating the views out and opening the home up to its context.

Although not a certified Passivhaus, these principles of airtightness and enhanced thermal performance were followed throughout.
‍

Interior of a room under construction with unfinished plaster walls, tiled floor, exposed wooden ceiling beams, a metal step ladder, wooden sawhorses, electrical wiring visible, wood shavings, and a vacuum cleaner with yellow cord on the floor.
Interior room under construction with stone flooring, wooden framed glass door opening to an outdoor space with stone walls, skylight above, exposed wiring, and construction tools and materials scattered inside.
Interior space under renovation with a metal ladder on the left, wooden sawhorse in the center, and a vacuum cleaner with yellow hose on the right among construction tools and materials on tiled flooring, with exposed wooden ceiling beams and partial stone wall at the back.