Langsett View | New Build Home
Status: Planning Approved - Starting on site soon
Location: Rural South Yorkshire
Project Scope: A traditional barn-inspired new-build home in the Green Belt. Approximately 211m²
A new rural home inspired by traditional farm buildings
Overview
Langsett View is a new detached home designed for a sensitive Green Belt site surrounded by open agricultural fields.
The site currently contains a collection of dilapidated barns and outbuildings, constructed from a mixture of concrete blockwork, corrugated metal and timber cladding. Although these buildings have little architectural value in their present condition, their agricultural use and informal arrangement provided an important starting point for the design.
The new home draws on the familiar forms, proportions and materials of traditional stone farm buildings found throughout the surrounding countryside. Its simple pitched roofs, restrained detailing and collection of connected barn-like volumes allow it to feel rooted in the rural landscape.
Drawing from the local vernacular
Rather than designing the home as a single, dominant building, the accommodation is divided between a series of distinct but connected forms.
This arrangement reflects the character of traditional farmsteads, where barns, stores and other agricultural buildings have often been added gradually over time. The variation between the different elements helps to break down the overall scale of the home and creates a more natural relationship with its setting.
The lower sections remain deliberately subservient to the principal barn form. Reduced eaves and ridge heights, one-and-a-half-storey accommodation and carefully positioned dormer windows reinforce the appearance of a traditional rural building rather than a conventional two-storey house.
A restrained material palette, informed by the stone barns and agricultural buildings of the area, further connects the new home to its surroundings.
Responding to a sensitive site
The principal challenge was to create a generous family home while carefully managing its scale, visibility and impact within the Green Belt.
The building has been positioned and composed to reduce its prominence when viewed from the nearby road and surrounding fields. Its massing, roofscape, and individual volumes were carefully considered to ensure the proposal remained appropriate to the site's character.
The design was refined throughout the planning process, resulting in a more compact and carefully proportioned home.
Both principal building forms were shortened, while the element closest to the road was narrowed and lowered by almost a metre. The connecting stair core was also reduced in height, creating a clearer distinction between the individual barn-like forms.
First-floor accommodation was incorporated within the roof space, with dormer windows helping to reduce the perceived height and mass of the building.
Planning approval
Planning approval was secured for the new dwelling following a design-led process that demonstrated how a substantial family home could be introduced while respecting the character and openness of its Green Belt setting.
The approved design replaces the visual clutter of the existing dilapidated buildings with a considered piece of rural architecture. The result is a distinctive new home that takes its inspiration from the traditional farm buildings of the surrounding landscape.
Illustrated using CGI/AI. This is a genuine commissioned project, designed to a defined budget and responding to a unique site and our clients’ individual requirements. The imagery is illustrative; the proposed design is real.