The former windmill is owned by celebrated jewellery designer Cathy Best and her husband Paul Freeman. Their showroom occupies the ground floor of the mill, and their living accommodation is on the six floors above.
The brief was to extend the showroom in a contemporary and stylish manner, and to provide additional floor space to the accommodation immediately above the showroom.
At the time, the first floor of the mill was surrounded by a roofless, ruinous outer circular granite wall which had originally formed part of the mill building.
At ground floor level the showroom was extended utilising a simple frameless glass box, to maximise the showcasing of Cathy’s exciting and unique designs. The first floor extension occupies the formerly ruined perimeter building to create an unusual open-plan interior.
The most striking element is the curved, automatically retractable glass roof, which instantly converts the sun room into a roof-garden, yet retains privacy from visitors coming and going from the showroom below.