Thatch and Shingle Cottage

Early investigations centred on the possibilities of an evolved rural; an approach that enhances existing character through careful renovation, whilst also providing contextual, self-referential, and of our time, architecture - reflective of immediate context, history, and local narratives.

Project intimacy led to greater interrogation of the host cottage – an inherently straightforward building tectonic comprising simple foundations brought up to plinth, masonry walls, topped with a timber-framed, thatched roof. It is unclear as to whether a timber frame preceded the brick walls. It is this tectonic that has informed response – and the question; how might we add to this cottage now, and how should such additions then relate to their host? Works saw the removal of poor quality accretions and their replacement with additional accommodation, sought to extend its host yet sit within a collective envelope, or whole – here, oldest is painted brick, old is painted render, and new is scratched render; though precisely coloured to match antecedents.

Internally, the host tectonic is continued and overtly displayed; masonry walls are topped with the hierarchical deployment of the timber roof structure – each joist system stacks above its former; level one relates to support accommodation, level two to kitchen, level three to master bedroom; which then rises in a knapped pyramidal form – as mirror to the post productional state, and the now often scythed, oasts of the area.

Timber only construction here - timber structure, reconstituted timber insulation, and timber shingles; an of-the-ground echo of the thatched cottage proper. Soffits are a coloured inversion of existing; timber with plaster infill, becomes white painted timber with naturally sealed timber infill. Time-based codification continues this language play with new elements, such as windows and doors, placed beyond the structure, and in, or over, the thermal envelope.

There are messages and monogram-led references of its current custodians, there are architect-gold-leafed reveals, there are cast against-reeded-texture copings, and there is a self cast plinth and self cast hearth inserts. Statutory consent was hard fought, as was wrestling this back into being, as was working with one's parents, several years into practice. *The reductive nature of these forms to convey the complex nature of a build.

Annual CO2 emissions data (requested in kg/m2/year) was not provided.