This sustainable Farnham house sprang from its owners' fabric-first decision. Instead of updating a dilapidated bungalow on site, it made more sense for the clients and their architects to demolish the modest property and replace it with a new, eco-friendly, modern building. The aim was to design and construct a home that would make the most of the secluded setting and enable the owners to integrate renewable technology to run it efficiently and with minimum impact to its surroundings.
Designing a sustainable Farnham house
Sketch Architects were enlisted to design the home's sustainable architecture that would relate well to its verdant setting and be finished in natural materials. Built on a sloping site, the two-storey house now features an array of solar panels that assist in running an air-source heat pump. The panels provide electricity to the entire building with any surplus energy stored in the onsite battery. The highly insulated building envelope was designed to ensure an increased level of air-tightness – a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system (MVHR) helps renew the air within the property and recycles the heat produced to keep temperatures in this all-electric home comfortable.
The sloping site has been exploited to give the occupants 360-degree views from all angles and allows the house to take on a traditional format with the communal spaces arranged over the ground floor of the building. The positioning of glazing and interior furnishings have been calculated in response to the elevated views of the Surrey countryside. Within the open-plan layout is a kitchen, dining and living area. This zone is delineated by a bespoke steel and timber staircase, which rises up through a double-height space above the living area. Rather than mask the supporting steel beam and column, it is instead highlighted in a moss green.
A pod studio that can be transformed into a guest bedroom with a utility space and bathroom help future-proof the home, should accessibility become an issue in the future. The pod structure is connected by a glass link and clad in charred timber. It features a sedum roof, which contrasts with the natural larch façade and zinc standing seam of the main building. Upstairs, four bedrooms fan off the gallery landing, one of which is a master suite. The rooms celebrate the use of glulam beams, which are left exposed to add a layer of detail and texture.
-
How to use AI in architecture? A practical guide with Tim FuArchitect Tim Fu, an early AI adopter who regularly uses these new technologies in his practice, offers advice for how AI can assist your
-
The largest posthumous survey of Helen Frankenthaler puts her in the frame with Pollock and RothkoGuggenheim Bilbao hosts 'Painting Without Rules', a major exhibition of soak-stain innovator Helen Frankenthaler’s paintings that also includes Pollock and Rothko
-
The best beauty products of the month, from a ‘revolutionary’ Dyson hairdryer to zingy Hermès nail polishThe best beauty products of the month, selected by Wallpaper*, include Dyson’s life-changing new hairdryer, zingy springtime nail polish by Hermès and skin barrier saviours by the likes of Dr Barbara Sturm
-
Wild sauna, anyone? The ultimate guide to exploring deep heat in the UK outdoors‘Wild Sauna’, a new book exploring the finest outdoor establishments for the ultimate deep-heat experience in the UK, has hit the shelves; we find out more about the growing trend
-
A new London house delights in robust brutalist detailing and diffused lightLondon's House in a Walled Garden by Henley Halebrown was designed to dovetail in its historic context
-
A Sussex beach house boldly reimagines its seaside typologyA bold and uncompromising Sussex beach house reconfigures the vernacular to maximise coastal views but maintain privacy
-
This 19th-century Hampstead house has a raw concrete staircase at its heartThis Hampstead house, designed by Pinzauer and titled Maresfield Gardens, is a London home blending new design and traditional details
-
An octogenarian’s north London home is bold with utilitarian authenticityWoodbury residence is a north London home by Of Architecture, inspired by 20th-century design and rooted in functionality
-
What is DeafSpace and how can it enhance architecture for everyone?DeafSpace learnings can help create profoundly sense-centric architecture; why shouldn't groundbreaking designs also be inclusive?
-
The dream of the flat-pack home continues with this elegant modular cabin design from KotoThe Niwa modular cabin series by UK-based Koto architects offers a range of elegant retreats, designed for easy installation and a variety of uses
-
Are Derwent London's new lounges the future of workspace?Property developer Derwent London’s new lounges – created for tenants of its offices – work harder to promote community and connection for their users
