View across the valley

Ice Cream Factory

The UK's first organic ice cream factory converted into a rural retreat

The Ice Cream Factory was once used to make the UK’s first organic ice cream, Rocombe Organic. The owners of the farm commissioned David Kohn Architects to convert several of the farm buildings into new homes to turn the farm into a residential community.

The first house to be completed, the Ice Cream Factory is arranged around a courtyard, one side of which is the original farm building. The new elements are clad with the distinctive local red stone from where the farm’s name, Rocombe, comes from.

The courtyard frames the views of the surrounding hills and is the first room in a sequence that descends into the hillside. A living room gives on to a kitchen who's long horizontal window looks up the wildflower fields to the west.

A feature of the architecture is the visual connections between each of the rooms, both at ground floor level and to the upper storey bedrooms. This gives a theatrical character to the main living room that recalls David Kohn Architect's earlier White Building. 

Project

House conversion

Location

Devon

Client

Russell Pinch and Oona Bannon

Status

Completed

Design Team

David Kohn, Tom McGlynn, Robin Turner, Catherine Yarwood, Liisa Wickström

Collaborators
Momentum Engineering, P3r Engineers Ltd., WTHills

Photography
Max Creasy

Entrance with view of hills in distance
Ground Floor Plan
Courtyard
Living room
A sociable architecture of connections
Kitchen
Study
Concrete meets timber stairs
Back door
Section
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