Client Private
Project New Studio / Boathouse
Location Gunton, Norfolk
Services Lead Consultant, Sustainable design
The Great Water Boathouse is built on the brick vault base of the original boathouse in Gunton Park on the banks of Hanworth Broad, which has been designated a site of Special Scientific Interest.
The new Boathouse is built primarily as a studio for the owner to work in. The scheme originated as part of his masterplan for recreating the park buildings, and it was thought that the main body of the original boathouse was a thatched oak frame. This knowledge informed the design for the new building, which incorporated aspects of the original building, while using twenty-first century building methods and techniques.
The new Boathouse was formed on a brick base and included a green oak frame, which was designed, supplied and erected on site in two days. The pyramid roof incorporated dragon ties in all the corners to support the hips, all in green oak. The roof was initially erected in the workshop before being dismantled and re-erected on site.
The building incorporates a composting toilet, draining to a reed bed, wood/stone insulation to the floors, wool insulation to walls and uses local Norfolk reeds for the thatch roof.
