Structure studio DROO has prolonged and renovated Arc Polo Farm in Surrey, UK, including a charred timber clad clubhouse to an current barn and secure complicated.
After the polo membership was not too long ago acquired by new house owners, DROO was approached to refurbish its stables and coaching areas and full them with an occasion area the place company might watch the matches.
![Carbonized wood clubhouse by DROO](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/droo-charred-timber-clad-clubhouse-arc-polo-farm-surrey_dezeen_2364_col_38-852x639.jpg)
The studio’s masterplan for the Arc Polo Farm is knowledgeable by the Japanese idea of ‘shakkei’ or ‘borrowed panorama’ and goals to border views of the prevailing panorama with an arc-shaped route across the central polo discipline.
On the middle of the course is the clubhouse, a single-story construction that rises from the barns on the positioning. It has a gabled, spruce-framed construction clad in wooden shingles which have been charred utilizing the Japanese Shou Sugi Ban method.
![Clubhouse exterior at Arc Polo Farm by DROO](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/droo-charred-timber-clad-clubhouse-arc-polo-farm-surrey_dezeen_2364_col_47-852x568.jpg)
“Shakkei is the method of designing a backyard round a borrowed panorama, like a body round a distant tree or mountain,” DROO founder Amrita Mahindroo advised Dezeen.
“We wished to show the concept of borrowing from context round a bit, as a result of we are sometimes pushed to borrow from the constructed context, even in essentially the most absurd situations the place the panorama context carries far more weight than a close-by secure,” she. added.
![Carbonized wood clubhouse in a polo field](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/droo-charred-timber-clad-clubhouse-arc-polo-farm-surrey_dezeen_2364_col_34-852x639.jpg)
The archway is framed by two oaks on the positioning, one close to the prevailing stables to the east and the opposite on the fringe of the open fields to the west the place there’s a paved terrace with outside kitchen.
The north facade of the clubhouse is gently curved to hug the archway, with a wood-covered porch offering area for spectators to look at matches on the polo discipline.
“We wished to create a barn-like construction with deep verandas for use as outside rooms to look at the matches,” Mahindroo advised Dezeen.
“Whereas the clubhouse itself is modest in sq. footage, it feels expansive due to the shakkai rules,” she added.
![Arc Polo Farm wood clad club by DROO](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/droo-charred-timber-clad-clubhouse-arc-polo-farm-surrey_dezeen_2364_col_1-852x639.jpg)
Inside, the glue-laminated (glulam) wooden construction is left uncovered. Spruce beams and oak paneling distinction with a ribbed stone finish wall that frames a fire.
“We wished to create rhythmic finishes for paneled rooms that might age majestically and develop an attractive patina over time, in addition to categorical the joints between every panel,” stated Mahindroo.
![Interior of a barn-style club in a polo field](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/droo-charred-timber-clad-clubhouse-arc-polo-farm-surrey_dezeen_2364_col_13-852x1136.jpg)
To keep up and irrigate the encircling fields on the Arc Polo Farm, the clubhouse channels rainwater into assortment pits that result in a close-by lake.
A gymnasium and rider coaching area was added to the prevailing barns, together with enhancements to drainage, water administration and thermal efficiency.
![Barn renovation at Arc Polo Farm by DROO](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/droo-charred-timber-clad-clubhouse-arc-polo-farm-surrey_dezeen_2364_col_43-852x639.jpg)
DROO was based by Mahindroo and Michel Da Costa Goncalves and has places of work in London, Paris and Melbourne.
The studio’s earlier tasks embody the extension of a London warehouse with 4 adaptable flats and an workplace and flat block in Shoreditch with a ‘crumpled paper’ facade.
Images is by Henry Woide.