Restoring a mill without pretending
A water mill turned into a house, where the new work is plainly new and the old work is left alone...
There are two ways to restore an old building. You can make the new parts look old, or you can make them look new. The first is a lie that gets found out. The second is honest, and it is what we did here.
What was kept
The stone shell, the roof timbers, the wheel pit and the race. The floors were rotten and went. The wheel had gone a century ago.
What is new
A timber box inside the stone shell, holding the floors and the stair, standing clear of the old walls so you can see where one stops and the other starts. Steel where the loads needed it, painted the same dark grey as the frames.
The wheel pit
Left empty, glazed over, lit from below. It is the dining room floor. Guests stand on it and look down at the water.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you take on listed buildings?
How long did the mill take?
Is the wheel coming back?
One building a month, by email
A photograph, the plan, and the reason. Nothing else.
Hana Sato
Architect and one of the four partners. Writes most of what appears here and draws the plans with no furniture on them.
Folio
An architecture and interiors journal: houses, rooms, materials, and the reasons behind them.
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