The Canopy_

The Canopy begins with the part of Hunton Park Hotel, near Watford in Hertfordshire, that never quite belonged. Beside the original Grade II* listed mansion, the later extension felt disconnected and visually weak, pulling down the character of the wider setting. The brief was to give this newer building greater presence and turn an underwhelming entrance into a confident point of arrival. The mansion stays untouched. Everything around it works harder.

Two very different pieces of architecture sit side by side. One historic and established. The other later, flatter and without the same material depth. Rather than imitate the mansion, the intervention gives the modern extension a language of its own. Strong lines. Natural material. A clearer rhythm across the façade.

A broad canopy reaches out from the existing extension, stretching the entrance towards the landscape and creating a new horizontal datum. Slender supports sit beneath a deep roof plane, keeping the structure light while giving the arrival real presence. Vertical timber cladding wraps the existing elevations and flows into the entrance composition. Repetition pulls the building together. Timber brings warmth. Shadow brings depth.

The result is a stronger, calmer piece of architecture. Timber transforms the modern extension, its vertical rhythm breaking down the façade and giving it texture against the surrounding landscape. The canopy projects confidently beyond the building line, creating shelter and a more generous threshold beneath. Light moves between the timber fins; shadow gathers under the roof; the entrance finally has weight. Alongside it, the Grade II* mansion remains externally untouched — historic character on one side, a sharper contemporary identity on the other.