Riffhams 

Location: Danbury, Essex

Grade ii - Listed

Year: 2023

RIBA Stages: 0 - 7

Photography: Chris Snook

The Riffhams estate is set within the beautiful Essex countryside. An impressive Grade 2 listed building with a walled garden sets the stage for our intervention.

Our clients, a young couple have asked us to provide architectural services to support the works on their home. Working closely together we have designed a modern extension to the home, renovation work to the interior ground floor, landscaping design as well as the design for a new pool house. The main driver for the extension was to create a new modern living space for the family - a catch all location where they could be together, whether cooking, or in the courtyard garden. The new ‘link’ piece that NiNN designed allows for a continuous space on the ground floor with a seamless transition to the courtyard garden and pool house. It was also requested that the view of the grounds could be seen from the new space.

At the bottom of the courtyard garden is a new pool house space. Here the old stable buildings were demolished and a new timber clad building erected housing a sauna, kitchenette and changing rooms. Our intent here was to take away the existing buildings from the external garden wall to visually streamline the view from the pool. Materially NiNN have chosen to go for rich deep materials and a modern palette to contrast the heritage of the rest of the property. These deep materials provide a luxurious feel to the pool house.

Throughout the project our clients have trusted us to oversee various other parts of the project, including interior design and the coordination, project management and overseeing of the refurbishment to internal bathrooms and interior spaces.

Works to be completed in 2023