Snell David were asked to design a large new build house to replace an existing house situated on an extensive site in a small Essex village.  Stylistically, our client has encouraged the adoption of the local vernacular and material palette and the brief asked for a south facing outlook across the site and the landscape beyond.

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The house has been designed to appear like it has evolved over time via a series of extended forms which help to break down the mass and to be sympathetic its surroundings. The materials combine handmade bricks and clay plain tiles with lime render (incorporating insulation to improve thermal performance) and jettied oak first floor detailing – the single storey wing and garage are finished with featheredge timber boarding referencing vernacular outbuilding materials.  To the rear garden the gabled garden room is fully glazed with oak detailing which opens up spectacularly to views of the landscaping and swimming pool.

 

Great care has been taken to ensure the proposed dwelling and its orientation responds well to its site: the new dwelling is located further south on the site than the existing dwellingwas, to provide a more generous vehicle entrance and reducing visibility and noise from the road to the north; encouraging good quality daylight into the building and taking advantage of the sun for heating; and key views due south and south west which became a vehicle for the arrangement of internal spaces.

 

The house replaced an existing poorly insulated dwelling and  a more environmentally sustainable dwelling to reduce carbon emissions by way of improved thermal

efficiencies and the introduction of renewable energy air source heating.