Shortlisted - Best Luxury New Build - Northern Design Awards - 2016

This luxury new build classical home is located within a leafy seaside suburb. Its irregular, awkward shaped site proved a challenge to work with. Our idea was to provide a grand, classical home with a symmetrical entrance. Everything is in line, from the gates to the fanlight over the front door, the doorways beyond that and even the roof lantern.

The dwelling is comprised of two rendered blocks of classical proportions, one which faces the road and entrance to the site; and one which is aligned with the rear hedge. This block is set off to one side and although it is not immediately visible it is still convenient. The house has been orientated to take advantage of the sun and to create a regular shaped private garden to the rear.

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The dwelling has been designed with the external spaces in mind, to provide a formal arrival space and secluded rear garden, given the irregularity of the site. We worked in close conjunction with our clients throughout the process to ensure all their needs and wants were met. This meant that at the detailed design stage of the project, the overall size of footprint of the house was actually reduced slightly in order to subsequently reduce the final budget of the build.

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There were restrictive covenants on the site which meant we were limited to only building in particular areas and having dictated ridge heights.

The main block of the dwelling is slightly more formal as it houses the lounge, feature staircase with cast iron balustrade and porcelain tiled double height hallway. The second block houses the everyday living spaces, such as the open plan kitchen/living/dining area.

As well as designing the overall house we also designed the kitchen ourselves as it is quite an unusual space. We wanted it to appear to be part of the furniture so most of the everyday kitchen appliances are actually hidden away behind panelled doors which can be folded back and tucked when necessary. We have designed the open plan kitchen / dining / living room to be an elegant space with lots of timber panelling and classical repetition. There are five sets of glazed double doors that provide lots of natural light and open out onto the patio area and private garden beyond.

We have located the ancillary accommodation that is not used as much in the joining section between the two blocks, given that these spaces are unusually spaced. The half-landing also arrives at this middle section. By turning to the right you arrive at the master bedroom suite, complete with gym or to the left are the remaining three bedrooms. As the dwelling is located in quite close proximity to the site boundaries, there was concern that it could prove to be quite dark internally. Therefore we have provided rooflights, including a central feature roof lantern over the main circulation spaces on the first floor.

The very high floor to ceiling heights throughout the house are emphasised by the elegant fanlights over the doorways.

The salvaged stone clad garage, at the client’s bequest, has been designed to replicate a Formula One workshop, complete with sunken pit area and built in toolboxes and storage areas.