ArchShowcase 
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Split House in East Sussex, England by Alma-nac – Collaborative ArchitectureSeptember 23rd, 2015 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: Alma-nac – Collaborative Architecture Split House is a contemporary private house on a coastal hill top in Fairlight, Rother. The client, a couple well engaged with the local community, wanted to build a through-life house that would engage with the surrounding landscape, with a construction process that would draw from the local trades.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse
 Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse Informed by the brief for such a sustainable home that would celebrate its hilltop site, Split House is defined by orientating key internal spaces towards one of the series of outstanding surrounding views: a wildflower valley, the immediate coast, the neighbouring village of Pett and the headland of Dungeness.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse In responding directly towards these views, and sheltering from the prevailing winds, the volume of the building is naturally fragmented. The resulting form provides a clearly delineated public side, facing the adjacent houses and a wind protected private side, open to the wild flower meadow.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse Timetable: From winning the client led invited competition to submitting for planning approval took 6 months, with construction starting approximately one year later in June 2012. A stringent costing exercise was undertaken during this process, in an effort to reach the client’s budgetary target while delivering a fixed area and provision schedule.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse The building is a highly insulated steel super frame with timber infill set over a concrete pool base and slab, a method chosen as being the most efficient in dealing with the large cantilevered form. An external palette of slate, timber and render sits within a landscape framed with gabion walls. Through use of an un-lapped rainscreen cladding system, slate use was reduced by a third.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse Through building form and specific material choices, including the slates and stainless steel clips set alongside deep timber-lined angled reveals, Split House creates an ongoing set of changing shadows and reflections throughout the day.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse Extending this split geometry into the landscape, terminated by the potting shed, creates a soft sense of enclosure, allowing for the provision of a private garden without visually breaking from the neighbouring wildflower meadow. The internal junction of the two forms split levels provides a protected snug.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse Inclusive design/ through life construction: Split House is designed as a future proofed house. Provisions such as an internal lift, wheel chair friendly circulation spaces, flush thresholds, showers with seating space and WCs with space for future grab rails all serve to ensure the house is accessible and useable by all.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse Through life flexibility is hidden within the design. A section of the ground floor plan can be simply re-arranged to provide a small residence for a live in carer from the bedroom, bathroom and snug.  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Jack Hobhouse  Image Courtesy © Alma-nac – Collaborative Architecture  Image Courtesy © Alma-nac – Collaborative Architecture
Tags: East Sussex, England Categories: House, Residential |
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