London practice Tuckey Design Studio has revamped a house in a converted chapel in Devon, England, revealing and restoring the building's original features.
To celebrate its ecclesiastic history, the Old Chapel house has been reworked to reverse "characterless" alterations made during its conversion in the 1970s and later in the 1990s.
This involved stripping back walls, reorganising the ground-floor bedrooms and creating a "grand main hall" on the first floor with an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area, Tuckey Design Studio said.
Tuckey Design Studio has revamped a house in a converted chapel in Devon
"When we first stepped foot on site we were greeted by a characterless and muted interior that deceived the rich history and beautiful rural context," Tuckey Design Studio told Dezeen. "White plasterboard covered the walls and ceiling, and carpeted floors smothered the first-floor nave, with crude interventions from the '90s haphazardly altering the building use into a compromised family home," it explained.
"We enhanced the open-plan character of the nave by cutting to reveal, accentuating the drama by exposing existing joists, repointing stone arches and uncovering existing floorboards."
The project focused on revealing and restoring the building's original features
To improve the home's circulation and connection between living spaces on both floors, a mezzanine level has been removed and the old north entrance to the...