Castle High brings together minimalist architecture and the needs of a contemporary working farmhouse. The project, a home designed in the Pembrokeshire National Park by Hyde + Hyde Architects, was a commission by a local family of farmers who were after an upgrade of their existing rural complex.
Castle High by Hyde + Hyde Architects: the back story
The idea for Castle High was born in 2010, and the scheme has been some ten years in the making. The client approached Hyde + Hyde for a masterplan to update their farming estate. It was soon determined that a new farmhouse was required.
The architects obliged and worked collaboratively with their clients to create a new home that is rooted in robustness and resilience, but at the same time remains open and thoroughly contemporary in its function and aesthetics.
This balance is orchestrated by the juxtaposition of the design's strong, low, linear concrete forms – effectively two orthogonal volumes placed atop one another – and swathes of glazing that enclose the ground level. This means the living spaces connect freely to the outdoors, visually and physically, when doors draw back. But the concrete's sturdy nature anchors the whole to its site.
Inside, a traditional arrangement sees the living spaces placed on the ground level, and bedrooms upstairs. A principal suite is nestled on the western end, and a series of children's bedrooms sit behind the faceted façade's openings.
The scheme has high sustainable architecture ambitions too. A sequence of 8Kw solar panels, 20kw battery storage and a natural well form its current credentials, but the team's aim is for the home to soon become completely off grid and carbon neutral – wind turbines and further measures will ensure that this is achievable within the next few months.
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Granger Hotel: an intimate, maximalist charmer in San DiegoSet in the historic Gaslamp Quarter, Granger Hotel is an oasis of design blending history with modernity
-
A cavalcade of Kias is announced as the South Korean manufacturer bolsters its EV line-upThe 2025 Kia EV Day in Tarragona saw a new concept and new production cars as Kia moves into electric commercial vehicles and smaller family cars
-
'I'm trying to examine what it's like to be a person': Author Curtis Sittenfeld on her new book, 'Show Don't Tell'As Curtis Sittenfeld publishes her new book, 'Show Don't Tell', she tells Wallpaper* why she is drawn to her ambiguous characters
-
This modern Cotswolds home draws on its ancient woodland contextThis contemporary Cotswolds home, designed by NCA Architecture with interiors by Echlin, is a slice of the Mediterranean in the English countryside
-
A Danish twist, compact architecture, and engineering magic: the Don’t Move, Improve 2025 winners are hereDon’t Move, Improve 2025 announces its winners, revealing the residential projects that are rethinking London living
-
This Hampstead house renovation in London transcends styles and periodsThe renovation of a Hampstead house in London by Belgian architect Hans Verstuyft bridges the classic and the contemporary
-
New book takes you inside Frinton Park Estate: the Essex modernist housing scheme‘Frinton Park Estate’, a new book by photographer James Weston, delves into the history of a modernist housing scheme in Essex, England
-
Conran Building's refresh brings a beloved London landmark into the 21st centuryConran Building at 22 Shad Thames has been given a new lease of life by Squire & Partners, which has rethought the London classic, originally designed by Hopkins, for the 21st century
-
Sadler’s Wells East opens: ‘grand, unassuming and beautifully utilitarian’Sadler’s Wells East by O’Donnell and Tuomey opens this week, showing off its angular brick forms in London
-
2025 Serpentine Pavilion: this year's architect, Marina Tabassum, explains her designThe 2025 Serpentine Pavilion design by Marina Tabassum is unveiled; the Bangladeshi architect talks to us about the commission, vision, and the notion of time
-
We celebrate the emerging London architects to be excited aboutThese emerging London architects are some of the capital's finest ground-breakers, movers and shakers; heralding a new generation of architecture
