![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Exterior Photography, Brick, Door](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/8aed/b357/6512/c600/0354/newsletter/12_parchment_works_johan_dehlin.jpg?1585941180)
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Architects: Will Gamble Architects
- Area: 180 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Johan Dehlin
![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Exterior Photography, Brick, Garden](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/8a0c/b357/6512/c600/032a/newsletter/09_parchment_works_johan_dehlin.jpg?1585940963)
Text description provided by the architects. The existing property consisted of a Grade 2 listed double fronted Victorian house. Connected to the house was a disused cattle shed and beyond that a ruin, which was a former parchment factory and a scheduled monument. The client’s initial brief was to convert the cattle shed and demolish the ruin to make way for a new extension. From the beginning of the design process, it was clear that the client viewed the ruin as a constraint as opposed to a positive asset that could in fact be celebrated through a sensitive but well-conceived intervention.
![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Exterior Photography, Brick, Concrete](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/88e1/b357/659c/1800/0155/medium_jpg/04_parchment_works_johan_dehlin.jpg?1585940653)
![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Exterior Photography, Brick, Facade, Door](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/87bb/b357/659c/1800/0153/newsletter/01_parchment_works_johan_dehlin.jpg?1585940372)
Instead of demolishing the ruin, Will Gamble Architects proposed “a building within a building” - where two lightweight volumes could be delicately inserted within the masonry walls in order to preserve and celebrate it. A palette of honest materials was chosen both internally and externally which references the site’s history and the surrounding rural context.
![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Interior Photography, Windows, Beam](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/8d37/b357/6512/c600/0407/newsletter/17_parchment_works_johan_dehlin.jpg?1585941772)
![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Image 15 of 16](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/91f5/b357/659c/1800/015e/medium_jpg/Parchment_Works_GF.jpg?1585943007)
![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Interior Photography, Dining room, Table, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/8d78/b357/659c/1800/015a/medium_jpg/16_parchment_works_johan_dehlin.jpg?1585941818)
Externally, corten steel, oak, and reclaimed brick have been used. The extension was built out of up-cycled materials predominantly found on site which was both cost-effective and sustainable, whilst allowing the proposal to sensitively blend into its surroundings.
![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Interior Photography](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/8e0f/b357/6512/c600/0408/newsletter/18_parchment_works_johan_dehlin.jpg?1585941984)
Internally the structural beams of the existing cattle shed were exposed as well as the steelwork to the new parts - the stone walls were re-pointed and washed in lime to create a mottled effect and a concrete plinth was cast along the base to create a monolithic “skirting”. A contemporary kitchen (also designed by the practice) juxtaposes the uneven and disordered nature of the ruin and continues the theme of a modern intervention set within a historic context.
![The Parchment Works House / Will Gamble Architects - Exterior Photography, Brick, Arch](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5e87/89df/b357/659c/1800/0157/medium_jpg/05_parchment_works_johan_dehlin.jpg?1585940880)