The owners of a rural house in East Sussex, UK, hired London-based architecture firm Carmody Groarke to design additional accommodation alongside their main dwelling. Titled ‘Two Pavilions’, the project combines complex renovation as well as modern engineering. For the first pavilion, the architects embedded board-marked in situ concrete into the banks of a man-made lake. The partly buried structure opens towards the views via a large window and deck area. Reclaimed oak lines the walls of this guest suite, while the decor features a bed and a freestanding bath. To connect the volume to the main house, the team built a 40m-long underground tunnel which boasts an exposed galvanized steel structure and a wooden pathway.

The second pavilion integrates the site’s history into its walls. The studio carefully renovated the ruins of an 18th-century farmhouse and transformed the structure into an artist’s studio. Polished in situ concrete completes the missing areas in the exposed brick walls, while rusted steel gives the pavilion an industrial feel. A new plate-steel roof extends beyond the building’s footprint to provide a sheltered outdoor space. Apart from providing stability for the roof, the four large windows also curate the views towards the pastoral landscape.