Designed for a challenging site in the open countryside, this house had to be truly outstanding to get through the planning legislation. During several meetings with a team from the local authority it was agreed that it was better to be outstanding and visible, than to hide the building away. Several themes came together, the presence of the elements was strong on the site: the wide sky, the steady wind, the water, and the warmth within.
So we created an elemental house, with a lightweight and well insulated first floor, catching the sun and the open views floating over a sheltered ground floor, built into the thermal mass of the earth.
This is also a habitat house. Every opportunity has been taken to integrate opportunities for wildlife to flourish, with crevices for bats, bee tubes, wildflower walls, holes for nesting birds, all integrated into the fabric of the building.
