The brief to Lewandowski was for a building that gave an aesthetic of a converted barn.
“Internally the client wanted the exposed timber barn feel within a modern, robust and efficient building. Carpenter Oak were great in that they very early on confirmed some basic principles for column and beam sizes that enable us to progress our design. Adam was helpful in terms of discussing material options and the impact this would have on budget etc. All the team were very pragmatic in terms of achieving key details and finishes that we wanted.” – Alex Chapman, Lewandowski Architects
After initial discussions to construct the new venue in a way that would link into existing adjacent buildings, it was decided that the building would need to work on its own, with no other structural support.
Rather than going down a traditional, green oak cruck-frame route, the wedding barn would be in sharp contrast to the aesthetic of the Georgian house. To create an open space that would allow for different uses and configurations, glulam was the obvious engineering solution, specifically white spruce, in harness with steel flitch plates, tie rods with bottle screws and four-way connections.
Designed to comfortably house large numbers of guests, the barn is 33m long, 6.6m high and has a 9.2m span.
Usually, the bays from truss to truss would be around 3.5-4m apart, but for such a large span and length, the bays at Syrencot are 2.2m apart to help with the structural integrity. With large openings down one side of the building, larger sections of glulam were used as bridging beams.
The end exterior gable facing the grounds was made from larch glulam and stainless steel fittings to withstand the elements and to provide outside as well as inside space.
“I think the early involvement and willingness of CO to work within the pre-established design team was fundamentally important to ensure the end product was as initially envisaged. The team delivered on time and as expected. In my opinion the frame is one of the most successful elements of this entire project.” – Alex Chapman