The project is for a new country house, ancillary accommodation and landscape strategy located on the site of an existing farm to the northern edge of London.

The siting of the house establishes relationships between a series of territories, defined by the programme and the particular characteristics of the site. The elements of the programme are related in a manner which might be understood as a continuity of spaces, akin to a landscape, moving between interior and exterior. The project is made up of a series of generous, well proportioned rooms and garden rooms, of varying degrees of formality; each with its own particular character.

The plan form and volumes which break down the mass of the house, articulate possible relationships between members of the family, staff and guests. The house can be used, experienced and moved through in different ways, as defined by the season, the time of day, or a particular event.

The house and gardens are defined in relation to the landscape by a wall, which screens the lower ground floor spaces and partly retains. A pool in front of this wall collects rainwater run off and encompasses the springing of the existing watercourse, which crosses the site. The working parts of the landscape are situated to the East of the site, away from the prominent views and visually protecting from neighbouring properties and the public right of way. Coppice woodland, part of the energy strategy is screened by new visual woodland planting. A wood chipping machine is housed in a folly which provides a visual focus in the landscape.

The house moves from room, to terrace, to courtyard, to garden. The wider site continues this spatial strategy, with landscape elements being reinforced to describe a series of ‘land rooms’, defined through densities of tree planting. Working land becomes distinct from landscape and the site is buffered from neighbours and visual intrusions. The land becomes intrinsic to the house, providing its energy source.

The house carefully orchestrates relationships to, and views of the wider landscape at all scales, as well as to the other ancillary buildings. It presents as a shifting figure within the landscape, sometimes presenting a formal face, at other moments understood as a connective piece which defines the elements around it.

The site has the potential to support a low or zero carbon development and we have minimized the environmental impact of the building as far as possible by both reducing the energy demands of the house through passive means of orientation, thermal mass, insulation and air tightness whilst also incorporating low carbon technologies to meet the energy requirements of the overall development.

The heating needs of the house and pool are met through managed coppicing and the use of a biomass boiler. This will be augmented through solar collection there also exists potential to harvest the prevailing wind. The siting of the buildings allows simple harvesting of rainwater run off and collection of grey water as coppice irrigation and the flushing of toilets.