Extension to Tŷ Melinydd, Carmarthenshire

A new Timber Frame extension to a former Miller’s House in the Brecon Beacons National Park

This project is an addition of a new timber-clad studio extension to former miller’s house in the Brecon Beacons National Park. It is part of a group of four buildings with stone walls and slate roofs: flour mill (c.1500), house, oat drying kiln and cowshed. Roger Mears and his wife Joanie Speers bought the mill and cowshed in 1979 and partially converting them for use as a holiday home described in detail here. In 1985 they purchased the miller’s house and the kiln and in order to avoid enforcement of a demolition order they repaired and refurbished the house and repaired the kiln for use as a store.

The house is tenanted by two artists, who help look after the buildings and surrounding land. They had worked in cramped and ill-lit conditions for several years, so a new studio was designed to provide well-lit working space for them.

The proposals for the studio received unanimous approval from the National Park’s planning committee. It is designed to blend with the surrounding woodland; its sedum-covered roof is at the same angle as the adjoining wooded slope and the timber cladding provides a gentle contrast with the stonework of the existing building.

The studio is linked to the existing house via a new entrance lobby and utility room, set back from the road, and is constructed using a Welsh-designed, highly insulated, structural hollow-beam system clad in vertical timber boarding. An upper gallery floor is set back internally and cantilevered over the sloping rock face behind to create extra space, with a close-up view of the flora and fauna on the rock face behind.

The lower studio level gains high light levels from its large south-facing window and the upper level receives more even north light from the north-facing window. The whole space benefits from light washing the side walls from long roof lights.