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A new home in the picturesque village of Battle, East Sussex. The end picture was to design a four bedroomed home with a family sized level of interior space. Observation of the ‘cottage’ style design was a necessity, prevalent in the area as well as the restraints of inserting a new home between two Grade 2 listed buildings. We recognised the need to provide a roof level as low as possible to avoid overpowering the adjacent buildings and attained this by introducing a ‘skeiling’, a Sussex feature (a straight sloped part of a ceiling, such as on the underside of a pitched roof). We also recognised the need to minimise the apparent mass of the building and selected a ground floor extension to accommodate the increased level of interior space required by the brief. This enabled us to present the main part of the building in as compact a form as possible and to propose an area of green roof. Providing visual relief and increasing biodiversity in the scheme as the meadow grass planted sedum will attract birds and bees.

 

Exterior features follow the palette of materials prevalent in the area, namely plain clay tile clad walls and roof, half-gable roof profile and black metal rainwater goods. Modern features, such as aluminium/timber composite windows and zinc clad ground floor extension, were selected to provide a modern take on traditional components. One such feature, the chimney stack, has been reinvented for this project to provide a passive stack ventilation element, assisting in the provision of a well ventilated interior with little or no mechanical equipment.

 

The landscape design is simple, to maximise the area of lawn and to integrate it with the stone slab patio by way of wide spaced, grass sown joints between the slabs.

 

The simplicity of the exterior is continued inside, with the main living area being a combined with the living/kitchen/dining space with elevated evening sitting area, presented as a well-lit whole. Furniture placed to segregate the different areas without appearing cluttered. Window positions and sizes; carefully considered to ensure the space is light but also to provide views of the different parts of the garden.

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