The Piano Room
A contemporary stone extension to a Victorian rectory, structural stone fins, an engraved frieze, and a refined classical language for a room designed around music.
Project Details
The Piano Room at Marlands is a contemporary stone extension to a Victorian rectory in Hampshire. Designed by Porter Robson Architecture for a private client with a love of classical architecture and music.
AFJONES developed slender structural stonework with an engraved and carved frieze, integrating it with a modern frame to create a refined, quietly expressive room.
Structural Stone · Contemporary Room
Classical Language,
Modern Context
The brief called for a new piano room that felt in tune with classical proportion while clearly belonging to a contemporary addition. AFJONES responded with a stone scheme built around slim vertical fins and a decorated entablature.
The room achieves a calm rhythm and a strong sense of order without unnecessary weight, stone as architecture rather than decoration.
Frieze Detail
Carved and
Engraved Work
Across the entablature, frieze panels were designed as a mixture of carved and engraved work, developed closely with the architect to meet an artistic brief within clear budget constraints.
The result is a band of stone that rewards close inspection, adding depth and character to the otherwise simple volumes, a layer of detail that speaks quietly and well.
The stonework is structurally engaged rather than purely applied. Slender elements are tied back to a supporting frame, with bracketry and interfaces detailed to respond to membranes, DPCs, thermal breaks and build sequencing.
Buildability
Detailing for
Performance
This allows the stone to read as a coherent architectural system while working efficiently with the underlying structure, art and science working together in a single wall.
This allows the stone to read as a coherent architectural system while working efficiently with the underlying structure, art and science working together in a single wall.
Gallery
The Piano Room, Marlands
Stone Selection
Performance
and Tone
A detailed appraisal of requirements informed the choice of stone, highly frost-resistant for an external application, selected for tone and grain to complement the Victorian fabric of the existing rectory.
AFJONES delivered the full scope from stone selection and detailed design development through fabrication and installation, working closely with Porter Robson Architecture throughout.
A contemporary stone room that speaks the language of classical proportion — slender fins, carved frieze, and the quiet confidence of craft.
The Piano Room demonstrates how structural stonework and architectural ambition can combine to create a space that is genuinely expressive, without ever being excessive.
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