West Sussex
Rowhook
house
This new eco-friendly home was designed to be sympathetic to the beautiful countryside, respecting the landscape and natural contours of the site. We proposed a house that will blend seamlessly with its surroundings as it steps gently down the location’s natural topography thus softening the visual impact from the road. Orientated towards the sun for passive solar gain, the rooms of this new home will be flooded with light all day.
​Conceptually, the house is designed as having a northern red brick wall spine which runs from the car port at the top of the site down to the terrace next to the trees (what is this?) towards the East of the site.
This wall is then punctuated with varying sized openings and seats internally. The brick is exposed internally in certain areas, giving the house a textural and warm feeling.
​The experience of the house and site starts at the new entrance with a sloping driveway down to the car park. Hedges and flowers shield the house for privacy and offer a level of surprise once in the house. The car port is open to reduce its mass. Here the red brick spine wall wraps around the functions with the use of hit-and-miss brick work. The timber roof then floats over to the top continuing to the house as a covered entrance way. Vertical timber screens allow for planting to grow along the entrance path. At this point, there is a change in level and a small opening through the brick screen into the Northern garden and meadow.
​The entrance hall directed the view down the spine wall which terraces down with storage and gallery along the way and a single window seat framing a view of the large trees to the North.
The wall represents the brick walled gardens in traditional English gardens. To manipulate with the wall further we have proposed a varied palette of brick work, from Flemish bond, to hit-and-miss and herringbone bond.
As a foil to this more solid element, the southern facades of the house are more glazed and timber clad. The timber being a mixture of 50 mm sawn timber cladding and planned for doors and vents.
A series of timber louvres shade the Western sun and provide privacy for the bedrooms.
​A sloping roof sits above the timber, brick and glazed elements separated from the brick spine with high level glazing, which affords views of the mature trees to the North. The carport roof will have a sedum finish to the top will help with biodiversity.