Bryncyn

From the front Bryncyn is a traditional Welsh cottage with two rooms up-stairs, two down and an adjoining cowshed. But the interior’s undistinguished Victorian features gave Dorian carte blanche to make radical changes. Ripping out partitions and adding a modern Japanese style terrace.
 
Bryncyn - Bank Cottage - rescued in 2007 is a small, dazzling-white lime washed building standing at the end of a track in rural Carmarthenshire. Beyond the front door Dorian has opened up the ground floor, turning two rooms and hall into one long airy space with two small windows, white-painted shutters and a vast cottage fireplace.

Upstairs all the partitions were removed, laying bare the bones of the building and creating a rather lavish space with pale, lime washed walls and an open ceiling. A slate step, concave with use, links the cottage to the modern extension accommodating the kitchen/bathroom.

At first glance the room appears to be lined with rough sawn, horizontal planks of bleached wood but  in fact  it’s concrete. The kitchen’s back wall is a vast sheet of glass. The concrete wall of the kitchen and its concrete floor continue beyond the sliding glass door, crating the impression of an unbroken space and making inside and outside interchangeable.

Outside, the concrete terrace and hot tub is partially enclosed by walls of the same material and bounded by a pool.