Architect Marcus Lee and urbanist Corinna Dean converted this Suffolk grain store and silo into a low-impact countryside home. Known as the Drift, the project brings together four heritage structures — a steel-framed grain-drying shed and silo, a concrete Dutch barn and a 14th-century Grade II-listed barn — through a programme of low-intervention adaptive reuse.
Photography: courtesy of Hemingway + K
Photography: courtesy of Hemingway + K
Photography: courtesy of Hemingway + K
Rather than replacing the site’s agricultural character, the team has preserved the buildings’ existing forms and materials; corrugated metal, exposed steelwork and weathered timber are left legible throughout. A Douglas fir structure has been built up within the former grain shed to form a two-bedroom house arranged around open-plan living spaces, concrete floors and triple-aspect glazing. Plywood joinery and natural-fibre insulation made from sisal and wool remain exposed internally.
A retained Dutch barn now operates as an open loggia for dining and gatherings. It’s separated from the main living spaces by a brick-paved terrace and a natural swimming pond that was fashioned out of the site’s former horse pond. The silo contains an additional bedroom suite and kitchenette opening onto its own terrace.
The property extends across 1.5 acres in Babergh, on England’s Suffolk coast, and is listed for £1.2 million.
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