Art Barn is a minimal space located in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, designed by Charlie Luxton Design for Studio Richter Mahr. This project presented an exciting opportunity to create a modern, high quality music recording facility and art studio. The owners, who work individually and in collaboration, required bespoke accommodation to facilitate their work. The resulting design provides world class recording studios and associated facilities, art studios, office space for support staff and a canteen for permanent staff and visiting musicians. The interiors retain a connection to the building’s agricultural roots expressing its original steel structure internally. Natural light was a key consideration and generous rooflights bring light to all main spaces. The plan draws the visitor through a series of connecting spaces that reduce in scale, culminating in the entrance to the expansive recording studio with a large picture window connecting it to the landscape beyond. Extensive landscaping grounds the building in its location with the metal folded seam cladding providing a contrasting backdrop for the naturalistic planting scheme. The existing foundations and steel frame were adapted and used to reduce carbon emissions. A new highly insulated shell was created with MVHR, a large PV array, air source heat pumps and battery storage which allow the studio to continue recording during powercuts.

Photography by Lorenzo Zandri