The building is formed as a cluster, sitting low to the ground, with irregular pitched roofs that break down the overall mass and create a low-slung silhouette reminiscent of traditional farmsteads.
Arranged as four wings, each radiating from a central entrance and extending outwards into the landscape, the house is designed to capture sunlight throughout the day. The spaces between the wings form external rooms, encouraging the interior to flow seamlessly into the land. A kitchen garden is positioned to the south, sheltered from the wind and accessed directly from the kitchen and dining room. An evening veranda is located to the north-west, capturing the setting sun and offering expansive views across the landscape. In the north-facing living room, an old oak tree is framed by a large picture window, drawing the eye towards the edge of the rewilded land.
Throughout the design process, we have balanced the desire for prospect and long views with the complementary need for protection and enclosure. A variety of rooms, windows, nooks and niches create places with differing qualities throughout the day: spaces where the owner’s cat might naturally settle to survey the surroundings, enjoy the sunlight, or find shelter.
Construction materials are renewable and locally sourced, minimising embodied carbon. The house is slightly raised on screw piles, reducing disturbance to the ground. The superstructure is formed from timber SIPs (structural insulated panels) filled with recycled cardboard insulation, while the exposed roof structure is made from indigenous timber. Externally, the lower section of the building is clad in local limestone; elsewhere, the walls and roofs are finished entirely in locally sourced chestnut shakes.
The house is designed to be low-carbon in construction and zero-carbon in use, generating its own heat and electricity from renewable sources and achieving high levels of insulation to minimise heat loss.
The wider landscape will be rewilded, continuing our client’s work to restore and cleanse the land. This includes removing pollutants from previous commercial farming practices, completing the restoration of ancient waterways, creating new wetland habitats, and extending their programme of tree planting and carbon capture.
We have calculated that carbon sequestration across the site will offset any emissions generated during the construction of the house, meaning the entire project (both house and landscape) will be carbon positive within its first year of completion.
The project recently secured planning permission under the stringent ‘Paragraph 84’ clause of the National Planning Policy Framework, where we demonstrated that the proposal is of exceptional quality, truly outstanding, and capable of raising standards of rural design more generally.
We hope to start construction in 2027.
Our journal
Featured
