The Swathes - The General Architecture Company Ltd

The Swathes

The Swathes is a small 3 bedroom cottage nestling on the side of a hill in 4 acres of countryside near Far Forest. The owners of the cottage approached me to produce for them a beautiful new family home centred around the 450 year old stone cottage. The brief for the project was particularly challenging as the existing cottage has very low ceilings and wasn’t a full two storeys in height, is set partially into the hill which meant that the majority of the extension would align along the hill and, as the clients were looking to double the size of the existing cottage, the large proposed volume of the new build would need to be designed in such a way as to not overwhelm the existing building.

To start to deal with these issues we produced a series of massing models that looked at the volume that was looking to be added and how it would sit against the existing. A series of these were completed and presented to the clients and after some discussion a concept of how the masses could be added to the existing cottage was reached. The final conclusion was that we would extend the cottage to both sides and to the rear. One side would contain a new kitchen, dining and utility at ground floor with a master bedroom, walk in wardrobe, en suite and balcony at first floor. The other side would be a new family lounge that would be over a storey high opened to an exposed timber roof with views through the trees. The rear extension would then be cut partially into the hill, have an glazed roof and would create the connections between all areas of the home and would include a walkway at first floor with bridges across into the existing cottage.

One of the discussions early on centred around the form any new extension would take and it was decided that the two side extensions would mirror the shape of the existing cottage. This was done as it wouldn't overwhelm the existing building and it also gave the opportunity to use a different material to contrast between new and old. The new side extensions were therefore to have the walls and roof completely clad with vertical timber boards. The rear extension was to be different again as it was buried in the hill and local stones was used to give the feeling of solidity.

The project achieved planning consent with full support from the local planning authority and is due to start on site in spring 2013.