When the owners of The Parchment Works, a Grade II-listed Victorian house in Northamptonshire, decided to extend their property into the garden, they faced a significant problem. The area was already occupied by a ramshackle former cattle shed and the crumbling, roofless remains of a 17th-century parchment factory. Even had they wanted to, obtaining permission to demolish the ivy-clad walls was unlikely.
London-based Will Gamble Architects had the solution. The firm designed a contemporary extension within the derelict space, ensuring “the ruined walls remained the most dominant feature”. Two contemporary lightweight, transparent “boxes” gave the owners a sleek internal edifice while safeguarding the heritage of the site. “The overarching ambition was to celebrate and enhance what was already there, with every intervention done in the most sympathetic way possible. It’s a celebration of materiality and history,” says director Will Gamble. “That continued through to the interiors where we exposed the stonework and the roof structure.” He describes the practice’s approach as a light touch: “That was the driving force – to create a contemporary 21st-century space that met the original historic fabric.”
