Initial Brief

The client was extending their Georgian country house as well as building a new studio space to house their extensive art collection. A dilapidated lean-to extension to the main house was to be demolished and replaced with a very large sliding door. A new building, that housed the utility room was to be linked to the existing building using a structural glass link to delineate old for new and provide lots of natural light and views to the garden in two directions.

Project

The existing extension building was removed revealing an 11 metre wide opening in the building. In order to make the most of the space, SGP designed a sliding door split in only 2 places, giving 1 large sliding panel and 2 large fixed pieces of toughened glass. The large toughened glass units were manufactured so as to be able to span the large distances and provide a huge area of glass through which to be able to gaze in to the garden.

In the studio, the same lift and slide door system was used to create a large glass corner to the building. The glass doors allow the client to sit in their studio and look out over the surrounding Welsh hills. Again, the doors only had 1 split in each, and the corner was achieved with a glass to glass joint detail.

The new utility space was linked to the building with a structural glass link formed in stainless steel perimeter and glazed with toughened and laminated glass. The glass was recessed in to the existing building so as to make it look as though the glass emerges from the building fabric. The glass formed both vertical glass walls and a glass roof, linked only with glass to glass and silicone joints.

A hinged door to the utility and a frameless rooflight to the studio completed the project and helped to achieve stunning results.