Project: Chartwood Kingswood, Kent.

Description: The scheme provides a new family home for the client on a south-west facing site with spectacular views over the Kent countryside. The building takes the form of an ‘L’ shape, wrapped around a south west facing terrace which makes the most of the views over the adjacent mature garden and the landscape beyond. The house has been located on the north east corner of the site, sheltering behind a screen of mature trees which provides privacy and ‘masks’ the new building from the existing village. A two storey wing on the north side of the site houses the private spaces, dividing the entrance court to the north from the garden to the south. A single storey wing at ninety degrees to this contains the main family living spaces, caught between a ‘morning’ court to the east, and the main terrace to the west. Internal courtyard gardens provide oases of calm and bring natural light into the heart of the plan. The external form of the building relates to the abstract cubic volumes of traditional farmhouses; the materiality reflects the white rendered simplicity of many agricultural buildings, however the massing and overall appearance of the new house is unashamedly contemporary.

Status: On site.