Providing a modern energy-efficient home to a local family and a base from which to operate their rural campsite business
The challenge was to design a significantly larger and more contemporary new dwelling outside the development boundary in open countryside that had to follow the footprint of the original farmhouse and its attached stone outbuildings. The form of the new dwelling is very much inspired by this pre-existing and traditional linear ‘telescopic’ arrangement. A requirement for a large open plan living space had to be reconciled with this pattern, and to form interconnected spaces without long corridors.
There are four main volumes arranged on a linear axis attached but stepping in and out, each with a different floor level and terraced landscape on one side, thus responding to this sloping site and the dramatic views towards the east over the sea and Snowdonia beyond.
Visual impact
The effect is a strong, muscular and sculptural form clad in local quarried stone on one side and asymmetric slate roof pitches, responding to the powerful landscape that it sits in.
Constructed from ICF (Insulated Concrete Formwork) which suited the client’s civil engineering background and understanding of concrete construction, the house is highly insulated and airtight and works with renewable energy in the form of a biomass boiler.
