Berways House

Finished in white-painted render, FDA’s bold, crisp rear extension breathes light and air into the original cottage house in the Hertfordshire countryside to update it as a modern family home, that overtly lends itself to entertaining and social living that the original, cellular dwelling could never offer.

Careful consideration and rationalisation of the historic form and details of the original cottage balance the markedly modern addition and provide rich character and tradition to the new building with both aspects sitting harmoniously together.

Incorporating new, open-plan kitchen, dining and living areas for a family of 4, and their dog too, the extension is set discreetly to the rear of the cottage, which offers little clue of its presence from the village street at the front.

The angled forms elegantly frame the expansive glazing which maximises the extension’s openness to the exterior, allowing it to remain finely proportioned and open into the deep, wooded garden to the rear and across into a covered dining area to the side.

This seamless connection out to the garden spaces is further aided with the inclusion of details such as a polished concrete floor that continues outside from the living area. This makes the house highly permeable and fluid in summer months, yet it remains bright and connected in the winter months as well.

Westfield Pool House

FDA was asked to develop a proposal for altering the existing two storeys Coach House annex to the Main House currently used as an ancillary space to the swimming pool and the orchard. The design intent was to create a simple layout with an open plan that will offer flexible opportunities for the family to use it as a recreation play and pool pavilion space and gain a natural integration between the pool pavilion, pool, garden and the Main House. Currently all these elements seem to be strongly separated visually and functionally which is the exact opposite of how the Client would like to see and use them.

Restricted budget lead us into limiting excavation works by retaining existing wall footprints but reducing the building height. By implementing a lower, better proportioned volume with timber cladding and traditional, less pitched roof (a nod towards local traditional architectural vernacular) to soften the building’s presence in the dense surrounding greenery.

The use of natural materials such as the timber vertical boards to the South, North and East elevations, attuned to the two existing timber clad out buildings currently located in the garden, as well as the traditional cedar shingles to the roof, are chosen to give the intervention a discreet and unobtrusive tone in the short and long term, as they need minimal maintenance whilst securing a lasting appearance and performance.

The opened covered space with large glazing sections to the West elevations of the building ensures that the modified space is well integrated with the property’s garden, with a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Dove House Farm

Concept Design by FDArchitecture; For a new rural home on a sensitive site subject to Paragraph 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework, a great deal was demanded of this design. FDA’s response was to propose a building whose form, scale and material echoed, without directly replicating, the character and tradition of its setting. Instead the proposal sought to be representative of the here and now without losing sight of that tradition and detail.

Tucking into a rolling landscape of Cow Parsley covered hills and using the ground as its dressing, the house is carefully designed to be as inobtrusive as possible within the wider landscape, often virtually disappearing from sight. But where seen from other angles, it rises out of the hillside, inferring the familiar forms of traditional agricultural buildings.
Traditional architectural language has been reinterpreted, with the house comprised of two dipping and interlinking forms which challenge the understanding of what the roof and the landscape might be, allowing it to simultaneously vanish and yet be bold and modern.

THE BEACH HOUSE

Set into a steep hill with views across a Cornish bay, this extension and remodelling of an existing bungalow sought to introduce coherence to the original house and encompass the site as a whole.

Inter-connecting spaces were added helping form new relationships with the landscape. A completely new building to the rear of the site was also introduced and offered the client the amenity of a home office and indeed additional accommodation for guests keen to take advantage of the new swimming pool which separates the two buildings.

Accommodation in the main house is flipped from the traditional arrangement with bedrooms located on at the ground floor while the living spaces enjoy the best views over the bay and also across to the pool at the rear from the upper floor.

To achieve variety and interest befitting of the dramatic location lighting was, of course, critical particularly where the building cuts into the hillside so all opportunities to introduce daylight were taken. A double-glazed wall which allows light to reach the deepest section at the rear of the main building was central to this strategy.

The client desired the project to have the least possible environmental impact, as a result both buildings are highly insulated including green roofs at the extension and new structure, heating is provided by an air-source heat pump and rainwater is harvested from the new roofs.

WIMBLEDON HOUSE

The client wished to retain much of the existing house, particularly the private spaces at first floor level, but also to radically alter the more public living spaces at the ground floor and wanted not to comprimise his view and enjoyment of the large garden from within the house.

To achieve this the entrire ground floor was removed and the upper half of the house was left insitu while the new house was built beneath.
A skylight runs the whole length of the rear of the ground floor allowing light to penetrate deeper into the plan, so creating an even more spacious feel. This is made possible by allowing the rear frame of the building to be seperate from the rest of the buildingso that it could move indepentatly of the glazing which simply rests over it.