Architect: Skene Catling de la Pena
Client: private
Awards won: riba national award 2015
RIBA SOuth Award 2015
RIBA South building of the year 2015
This is a rare example of a poetic narrative whose realisation remains true to the original concept.
The site is a seam of flint geology surrounded by ploughed fields with the flints sitting on the surface. The project is conceived as two wedges of that geology thrusting up through the flat landscape. Their bases are knapped flint and slowly change in construction and texture until they become chalk walling, dissolving into the sky.
The house forms accommodation for family members, guests and artists. Internally the spaces carefully frame the landscape and provide a rich sequence of experiences, including a small rivulet of water that that cuts a grotto through a corner of the main house. Magic.
CONTRACTOR: Kingerlee Ltd
Structural Engineers: Haskins Robinson Waters (HRW)
M&E Engineers: Max Fordham
Consulting Architect: Marc Frohn
Landscape Architects: Mary Keen & Pip Morrison
Cost Consultant: Selway Joyce Partnership
Lighting Design: Spellman Knowlton Lighting
Interior Design: David Mlinaric
Material Consultant: The Flintman Company Ltd
COST: confidential
PHOTOGRAPHER: James Morris