A different kind of Apple Store
The Apple Store is a lovingly designed flexible and fun family home located in the heart of Goudhurst Kent, situated within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty known as ‘The Goudhurst Fruit Belt.’
The project has seen an apple packing station transformed into a vibrant five-bedroom family home and live/work space complete with triple height yoga studio, photography workshop, pool and children’s secret hideaways.
The project was subject to strict conditions by the planners requiring the visual integrity, scale, structure and agricultural character of the original Fruit packing Station be retained. The part business designation (class b1) also had to be retained which supplements the new C3 use creating a truly integrated, highly successful Living and Working space.
Large open-plan spaces are created under the free-spin industrial roof, with rooms divided by sliding doors constructed from birch plywood. The communal areas at ground level and the cellular private spaces above are all oriented around a triple-height internal courtyard in the centre of the house.
The generous volume of this space can be used as a workshop, yoga studio or badminton court, located underneath original metal beams, which are exposed but painted white to match the cool interior finishes. The main living spaces feature large aperture windows framing key vistas to the surrounding woodland. In spring, an apple orchard will be planted on site as a continuation of the ‘Goudhurst Fruit Belt,’ serving as a reminder of the history of the site.
Low cost materials have been used throughout the project in inventive ways to deliver interiors of affordable luxury, throughout the home polished concrete floors flow seamlessly from one room to another. The building is topped by a corrugated metal roof, featuring private terraces and refurbished extract cowls that are now chimneys for the long burning stoves below.
The Apple Store is divided with flexible studios and workspaces to the east and living areas to the west. A 5mX10m swimming pool is located at the furthest end of the building, including a large glazed opening looking out onto the adjacent woods. This aspect remains hidden from neighbouring properties, offering the family privacy while swimming.
The home sensitively retains and celebrates the utilitarian and agricultural DNA of the building whilst showcasing beautifully and carefully considered modern interventions throughout the space. The combination of the historic and contemporary provides a large canvas for ever changing living patterns which will evolve with the family.
Andy Puncher, Director of pH+ said: “The Apple Store was a really exciting project to work on from a planning policy and cost effectiveness point of view to deliver a materiality and quality of spaces which work for both residential and commercial uses within an agricultural aesthetic approximately £1,000/m2. It is truly a building of, from and integral to its place delivering a family house and workspace designed around this very special family and site.”
XL Pools Ltd specialise in designing and installing award winning pools, covering Kent and surrounding areas. One-piece pools are XL Pool’s speciality and the company is able to build bespoke, beautiful concrete and panel pools to fit every client’s needs.
Working on Apple Store, XL Pools Ltd designed and installed the site’s swimming pool – XL Trainer 110 FB in Nova Pearl with slatted cover system. The pool includes Heatstar dehumidification and granite copings.
Commenting, Anthony Exell of XL Pools Ltd, said:
“We were very happy to be a part of this project. It is always nice seeing the creation of the pool unfold and be a part of creating a luxury pool for our client.”
About pH+
The core principle of pH+ is predicated around the belief that by delivering high quality and considered “shared spaces” higher commercial and residential densities can be accommodated to enhance, rather than detract from, living and working experiences. pH+ continually test their design responses at every stage of delivery to ensure the quality of the living and working experiences they facilitate are enhanced rather than compromised by increased densification
pH+ create consistently high quality projects that push spaces to work harder to realize architecture that is profitable for the client and a desirable place for future communities to form. Projects range from private houses to large residential schemes, schools to temples, cultural to civic buildings. Combining traditional architectural methods, such as hand drawings and iterative models, with bespoke feasibility studies, innovative design and extensive construction and delivery experience, pH+ are well placed to work on projects at any scale.
The design and delivery of intensified mixed-use architecture has become central to the work of the practice. pH+ welcome the challenges that come with tight sites and a large amount of their projects are schemes that have received planning permission where others have failed as a result of this. pH+ welcome dialogue and encourage their clients to contribute to these explorations, ensuring the final formula provides as tailored a response as possible.
