Barneys Ruins, Maghera, Londonderry

2024 RSUA Award

RSUA Sustainability Award
RSUA Small Project of the Year

Barneys Ruins, Maghera, Londonderry
Patrick Bradley Architect for private client
Contract value: Confidential 
GIA: 55m²

Situated deep in the rolling hills of mid-Ulster, Barneys Ruins is a modest project in terms of its scale, yet exceptional in its ambition and invention. Its name derives from the 200 year old ruined clachan (hamlet) that has become its lower levels. A small new house formed from a reclaimed shipping container floats dramatically above. The contrast in response to the site is remarkable – one element is grounded in the landscape, the other detached from it. The architect knows this landscape and its histories, and his passion for it is infectious. Although rooted in the land, the design maintains a thoroughly contemporary position and never succumbs to sentimentality. The detailing and making are carried out with conviction, care, and a lightness of touch that supports and heightens the initial conceptual boldness of the project.

The surrounding rural landscape is characterised by a patchwork of small farms that have sustained generations of families. A passion and respect for their heritage and way of life grounds the client and project in this place. The client is both architect and farmer.

The architect’s work is known for its modernity. Here the seemingly contradictory themes of the project begin. The clachan has been treated with immense sensitivity – not through a faithful enactment of some rural idyll, but through a clear, unequivocal idea.

There are two parts to the project: a small house and a guest annexe. The new house sits quietly within the reclaimed shipping container which hovers above the ruins, leaving them intact, while the outbuilding is converted into self-contained accommodation for guests. The container itself has been transformed from a piece of discarded industrial design into a modest yet courageous piece of architecture. The structural steel support steps carefully between the ruined stone walls, lifting the main living space clear above them.

The facades have been treated as a light box through back lighting to the translucent cladding. The large gable window creates a sense of immediacy with the fields below and the farm animals who shelter underneath its overhang. Internally the detailing is economical and inventive, birch plywood cladding lending a light, warm atmosphere to the modest spaces.

There is a remarkable meeting of two worlds: the traditional and the contemporary. The new work is unashamedly modern, while the old is left undisturbed, moss covered, to serve as a memory of the generations who farmed and continue to farm these fields.

Sustainability, economy and reuse are central to the project. For example, an on-site wind turbine provides free renewable energy while also feeding back into the grid. The old farms were small but provided a modest living. This is the poetry of Barneys Ruins. The project exemplifies an attitude to life and design that is deeply relevant to today’s practice: making do with less, through dealing with issues simply and pragmatically. The skill and success of this project however lie not in the idea of reuse itself, but in the transcendence of this approach to create spaces and environments of quality.

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RIBA Regional Awards 2024 sponsored by EH Smith and Autodesk