Generously spaced contemporary home with basement pool
Project Background
Our client first contacted us in June 2016 when they were in the process of trying to get planning permission for a sizable contemporary house. This was proving challenging because the site is close to several listed buildings and the proposed increase in size of the new dwelling over the existing house was quite considerable.
After a protracted planning process, including a planning appeal and working with a planning consultant, the clients secured permission for a smaller dwelling. Unfortunately, this meant excluding a ground floor swimming pool they had very much wanted.
The House
This is a generous 5-bedroom house with all bedrooms having ensuites and four, including the master bedroom, have inboard balconies. The ground floor accommodates an open plan kitchen, living and dining rooms as well as a snug, office and garden room. The basement accommodates a 14m swimming pool and gym.
The design has some interesting features and materials. The rear elevation has substantial areas of glazing so that much of the living/dining area opens directly on to the garden. The staircase will be made in part from structural glass to give the impression of it floating.
As we write this, we’re considering several options with the client for the external materials. Amongst these are black linear bricks. These are twice the length of standard bricks but the same height. These might be combined with a natural coloured Siberian larch. An alternative might be red brick with black stained larch. The roof will either be clay tile or slate.
Progress
We became fully involved in the project at the start of 2018. Since then we’ve added a basement swimming pool, the working drawings have been completed and construction on site started in January 2019.