Rather than creating a new dwelling which is essentially an object placed on the land, might it not be possible to create a new dwelling whose primary formal role is to engage with the land, connecting with adjacent hedges, ditches, trees, walls, footpaths, meadows and with the topography in order to create places around the new dwelling? Sensing that much of the resistance to new dwellings arises from their almost inevitable ‘objectness’, we set ourselves that challenge. The resultant scheme has four completely different faces, each seeking to contribute to a different existing landscape. This crinkle-crankle wall (an East Anglian ‘speciality’) is one of those faces, providing a new edge to an existing wild flower meadow. Between the four faces, is a single storey dwelling with internal courtyards, many roof lights and more windows than you might expect. The proposal has recently been submitted for Planning.
Other projects completed in 2018: