The Cottage

The Cottage, a rural new build, was a replacement dwelling within an existing equestrian facility and farmyard.

We were inspired to hide the rural new build dwelling within its setting, maximising both real and perceived seclusion from its sites enveloped nature. Angling the two wings away from one another allowed us to draw the garden and pond beyond into the main body of the house. Simultaneously breaking the confines of the internal spaces and engaging the full size of the plot.

Following an agricultural design logic, the house was born from clearly isolated forms holding the constituent parts of a home in their base forms. Those base forms were then manipulated to connect and facilitate its unified present. A design ethos that will not be detracted from through future alteration provided each is done to meet a need in the most expedited form.

The house is designed to operate efficiently at all levels of occupancy with areas able to be isolated ensuring the energy usage of the building reduces when only the core of the home is occupied.

Utilising a full raft of renewables and solar shading to minimise summer gains the house is designed resilient to the changing environment we will experience over its lifetime.

Photography by Pete Helme