New-Build Private House, Norfolk
Client: Private
2009

Our approach to this project was to derive a modern aesthetic from the immediate historic context while maintaining a fundamental commitment to issues of sustainability.

The site is in a field just outside Bury St Edmunds. The starting point for the proposal was to imagine the site completely wooded. We then created two clearings in the wood: one formal, and one semi-wild, a secret garden. The main house gathers around the formal clearing and is broken into three blocks. These three blocks pick up the 'grain' of the surrounding buildings and use local materials for their construction: knapped flint, black timber boarding, and red brick. The central block is lifted up onto the other two to create a fully glazed living space.

The house will have a very low energy consumption both in its construction and in its subsequent occupation. A range of low-energy devices are employed to this end. These include ground source heat pumps, locally and sustainably sourced materials, various applications of solar power, grey-water systems, super insulation and recycled materials. The aspiration with this project is to achieve an 'excellent' BREEAM rating.