Robins

The brief for a four bedroom family house, also required separate ground floor guest accommodation and had to be delivered within a tight budget. The client, from Aldeburgh, was passionate to experience views of the Alde and marshes in her dream home.

Our approach was to make the form as compact as possible, cut into the falling site, following the line of the neighbouring houses but with an off set ridge line to soften the impact of a large house on the the street scene.From the simple form we carved out two openings.

One for the splayed entrance, addessing the approach from Crescent Road, and the second an extensive roof terrace, within the roof line, that opens up to views to the West.

The client’s requirements led to the development of an “upside down” layout. The geometry from the entrance continues through the plan dicatating the line of the black oak clad stair leading to the first floor living room, kitchen and dining room. The huge vaulted space has windows on three sides – the tall slot window ensuring privacy to the neighbour and empahsises the soaring roof, glazed balcomnies onto the back garden and a wrap round window providing views to the South-East.

Conventional red brick is used playfully in a basket weave pattern that wraps around the building and alters your perception of scale. Cut outs are expressed in stained larch cladding whilst the windows afre carefully aligned with overall pattern.