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Following refurbishment of their family home, Folio Design was asked by the same delighted clients to work with the landscape designer, Natures Balance, to create a new garden room. The exquisite new structure sits at the bottom of their garden with a lush woodland backdrop and comprises a sitting room, gym, sauna, shower and relaxation area all wrapping around a new external hot tub surrounded by a rill and natural pond within a landscaped setting.
The building is designed to integrate with the garden. Views from the house to the woodland beyond are maintained by sinking the building into the landscape, whilst a green roof visually continues the sweep of lawn over the building.
Folio produced the concept for the building and worked closely with Natures Balance in developing the detailing throughout. They then carried out a full interior design service for the new rooms, including all finishes and lighting.
The Garden Room blends seamlessly with the natural landscape. The structure grows out from Queens Wood behind, and the sunken form maintains views beyond from the house. Locally coppiced green oak was used in vertical panels on the external walls to represent the tree trunks and further integrate the building into the beautiful, leafy setting.
Folio developed the concept into detailed space planning, and went on to carry out a full interior design service for the new rooms, including all materials, detailing, finishes and lighting. Particular care was taken to give a continuity of feel between inside and out such that volumes, planes and materials flow smoothly between the two. The green sedum roof continues the visual sweep of the garden lawn over the building, and the reclaimed slate cladding the rear is designed to moss over to continue the camouflaging effect.
The sitting area is tightly planned to create a cosy TV room with generous furniture for casually sprawling over, and generous views project out into the garden, embracing the hot tub and landscaped setting. The two glazed facades have minimal frames and relate to external levels to create a strong relationship between the spaces. This is further enhanced with the design of the glazing, which pivots and slides to exploit the full opening.
To create a calming spa-like environment, the internal walls are clad in white oiled Douglas Fir applied in random, undulating boards. LED lighting is used throughout with concealed linear lighting at both high and low levels, and is designed to highlight the natural variations in materials rather than attempt to hide them.
