Architecture between buildings: Forgeworks transforms historic farmhouse and barn into a family home

In period properties made up of multiple buildings, it’s often the space between them that defines how well they work as a home. Forgeworks shows how carefully considered architecture in these in-between moments can unlock flow, function, and a sense of calm.

Too often, links and connectors are treated as leftover space; a corridor, a pass-through, a box that joins two things with little thought. But when approached as architecture in its own right, these in-between moments can reshape how a home is used and felt. They offer a chance to reorient, to bring coherence, and to give purpose to otherwise disconnected structures.

In rural and historic settings, where homes evolve over time through additions and conversions, this kind of architectural clarity becomes essential. Forgeworks focuses not on spectacle, but on precision, aligning views, creating thresholds, and using honest materials to bring spatial calm. It’s a way of designing that respects what’s there, while quietly making it work for contemporary life.

In the rolling Mendip hills of Somerset, not far from Bruton and Castle Cary, Forgeworks Architects completed a sophisticated transformation of a 19th-century farmhouse and its adjoining barn for a young family.

‘A House of Blue Lias’ was conceived as a low-key, high-craft response to the clients’ desire for a unified family home that respected the existing vernacular while resolving practical issues of flow, warmth, and liveability.

Reconnecting buildings and people

When the owners first approached Forgeworks, they weren’t looking for grand statements or architectural acrobatics. What they needed was more intangible: a sense of cohesion. Their home consisted of a historic farmhouse and a poorly converted barn, separated by a drive and lacking any meaningful connection. The barn was underused, plagued by damp and impossible to regulate thermally. The farmhouse retained its charm but was beginning to feel isolated from family life.

Forgeworks’ solution was to introduce a new ‘link’ building, modest in scale but transformative in experience. Placed between the two structures, this new volume houses a formal living and dining space that now acts as the social heart of the home. Its design is quiet and precise, emphasising texture, proportion, and natural light over architectural bravado.

Timeless design, built to last

Clad in locally quarried blue lias stone and topped with a gently pitched roof of exposed glulam timber, the link building is a study in restraint. Five glazed panels run its full width, sliding open to connect both the farmhouse and barn to a south-facing terrace and swimming pool. The sense of openness is immediate, yet so is the feeling of warmth and enclosure thanks in part to a freestanding chimney that bisects the room and houses a dual-aspect log burner.

Throughout, the detailing is quietly exacting. The spruce-lined ceiling is laid out in harmony with the glazing joints and chimney placement, offering a rhythm and resolution rare in domestic projects. Where glass meets stone, the joinery is subtle and deliberate. The roof appears to hover, its overhang carefully calculated to offer seasonal shading, while the use of glulam allowed the team to minimise the amount of visible steel, helping the space feel more elemental and grounded.

“The clients had a strong appreciation for American mid-century architecture, stonework, articulated rooflines and open hearths, says Chris Hawkins of Forgeworks. Those themes helped shape the new structure, which is confident in its simplicity but rooted in craft.”

Forgeworks describes the house as “engineered but calm”, a phrase that speaks to the practice’s underlying design philosophy: to let materials and light do the talking, rather than resorting to stylistic gimmickry.

Sustainability without shouting about it

The barn was gutted to its stone shell and retrofitted to meet modern standards of thermal efficiency, now housing bedrooms, bathrooms, a study and a generous playroom, and a garage for the owner’s collection of vintage cars.

An array of solar panels and battery storage systems now powers the entire property, complemented by an air source heat pump that supplies both domestic heating and the swimming pool. Inside the link building, the mass of the stone and limestone flooring helps regulate temperature throughout the year, while concealed blinds provide shading at key moments in the shoulder seasons.

Forgeworks takes a softly spoken approach to sustainability, prioritising passive design, material durability, and low-maintenance strategies over flashy tech.

A more connected way to live

Spatially, one of the most transformative gestures is also one of the simplest: a new 25-metre-long axis now connects the entire home, running in a straight visual line from the farmhouse kitchen, through the dining space, to the barn’s far wall. Combined with the full building footprint, the house now stretches over 50 metres in total. Where once there was disconnection and damp, there is now a continuous flow of space, light and air.

A window placed between the new and old buildings offers a glimpse back into the kitchen… a reminder of the past, framed through the present.

It’s this kind of subtle choreography that defines Forgeworks’ work. The studio isn’t interested in overwriting the existing story, but in enriching it.

“We believe that architecture is at its most powerful when it responds to the place and the people it’s made for,” explains Chris Hawkins of Forgeworks. “It should help life happen more easily. And in a way that’s beautiful, but also natural. Lived-in.”

A personal process, a quietly ambitious practice

Forgeworks’ approach to architecture is rooted in deep personalisation, craft and clarity. Every project begins with intensive conversations with clients, uncovering not just aesthetic preferences but lifestyle rhythms, practical needs and long-term aspirations.

This detailed briefing phase is followed by a design process that is as much about editing as it is invention, balancing architectural rigour with contextual sensitivity.

The practice is known for its ability to deliver quietly confident homes that feel grounded and enduring.

“A House of Blue Lias” encapsulates this attitude: it’s a home that doesn’t shout, but sings, crafted with humility and purpose, and delivered with care.

Photo credit: French & Tye