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The site is within the area of Grasmere, and was designed by the landscape architect Thomas Hayton Mawson, originally featuring a terrace with two stone summerhouses at each end.
The form of the new house is designed to sit within the existing landscape, with the load being transmitted down along a new / thickening of the retaining wall in the area of the house, and sculptural columns at the outer edge, minimising the need for work in the area of trees wherever possible, and resulting in no tree loss on the site.
The proposed house is of a contemporary design, and adopts a largely linear form, sitting above, and influenced by, the topography of the site, in order to mirror the horizontality of the existing retaining wall, and retain the garden itself as the visually dominant element of the site.
The massing creates a clear visual heirarchy on the site, emphasing the visually ‘heavy’ nature of the lower floor (clad in local stone), with the ‘lighter’ overhanging timber-clad first floor sitting above, conceived as a ‘floating’ element sitting against the backdrop of the existing forest.
The relationship of the building to both the garden and the wider landscape has been a prime driver of the design, which due to the existing landform, and the woodland screening, would be barely perceptible from the public realm.
Visuals by Touch3D. Planning consultant Addis Town Planning.
