Project overview
Responding to a competition advert in the Architects Journal we were shortlisted to provide designs for a comprehensive remodelling of an existing Grade II listed cottage to create a generous family home.
The small cottage in the Chilterns National Landscape (AONB) had been incrementally adapted and extended over the years so that it no longer took advantage of its setting and the confined series of spaces were not conducive to modern family life.
Our proposal stripped away the extensions to leave the original cottage structure with guest rooms and study spaces, and then spaced larger open plan rooms and external terraces in a new ring of accommodation separated from and framing the original building. The natural topography of the site allowed for a semi-subterranean connection into the existing stair of the cottage with a sunken leisure suite and pool extending west and opening up to the landscape beyond a covered terrace.
The design provides a bold contemporary response which carefully balances the need to conserve the historic fabric, alongside a desire to provide adaptable contemporary living spaces.
