An exemplar modern family home.

House 02 is a replacement dwelling located on a southerly aspect site with long ranging views over the countryside.

The programme and composition of the building is split across 3 levels and forms.  The plan explores increasing thresholds of privacy horizontally and vertically. The main volume houses services, bedrooms and circulation. This form is intentionally solid, for the private spaces within the house. The first transition of privacy is at the main entrance threshold which takes the form of a rill,  with stepping stones leading to the front door. This moment is further celebrated by a curving brick form which softens the brick façade at this point. The second volume houses the living accommodation with a glazed façade and rooflights to separate it from the brick form. A basement pool and leisure area sit below this space with the section manipulated to bring natural ventilation into the basement. A third volume houses a garage and utility room.

The section of the building responds to the sloping nature of the site with a series of stepped thresholds from volume 1 to volume 2, this continues externally with the garden raking back to form a sunken lower ground terrace.

One of the key concepts of the build is the ambition to create a sustainable home. This is achieved through adopting a fabric first approach. The narrow plan of the two storey volume is intentional to assist with cross ventilation. The living area pavilion has a cantilevered concrete roof providing solar shading on the southerly façade and thermal mass. Masonry construction is proposed to minimise secondary steelwork. The materiality of brick, timber, glass and concrete has been curated to be robust, sustainable and appropriate for the context.

The house exemplifies our design ethos of simple, elegant design.