Blue Door
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Leighton Morris Download Original
Energy efficient four-bedroom family home located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in rural Monmouthshire
Blue Door is a family home built on an elevated site on a steep hillside that is located within the protected landscape of Wye Valley. The design references the hillside topography and makes use of a reinforced concrete retaining wall at the rear of the building.
The open plan house employs a steel frame within an insulated timber stud envelope with lots of glazing. There is a top-lit gallery on the ground floor and balconies are formed from overhangs that also act as solar shading devices.
The external façade is clad with oxidised copper-coated ceramic tiles along with horizontal cedar boarding that blends into the hues of the hillside. The timber is intended to weather over time to a silver tone that compliments the green copper tiles.
A timber monocoque roof topped in zinc forms a wing that provides protection from excessive solar gain for the glazed double-height living room. The house is heated by a ground source heat pump augmented by a heat recovery system. The building achieved a Level 4 in Code for Sustainable Homes.
Data
- Begun: Dec 2008
- Completed: Jan 2010
- Floor area: 256m2
- Sector: House
- Total cost: £430,000
- Address: Blue Door, Far Hill, Monmouthshire, NP16 6QY, United Kingdom
Professional Team
- Architect: Hall + Bednarczyk Architects
- Client: Mr. + Mrs. M Milling
- Structural engineer: Steve Morgan Associates
- Services engineer: The Holloway Partnership
- Quantity surveyor: TC Consult
- Main contractor: Rob MacCormac Construction
Suppliers
- Steel frame: Morgans of Usk
- Glazing : Fineline Aluminium
- Zinc roof: WA Roofing
- Tile rainscreen: Ibstock Brick Ltd
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