The Saxon House
This crafted Paragraph 84 family home in the High Weald Landscape responds to the historic and wooded setting. Celebrating the rolling vistas from its higher vantage point. The home spans a gap in the tree line enclosing the meadow, like a caress to the landscape beyond. The home is a sequence of unfolding spaces that respond to the landscape and bring it in like a character in a story.
Seeking to answer the question what is a home of exceptional quality of design and innovative nature?
This is the underpinning statement behind the Paragraph 84 policy seeking to support architectural design responding to place and time. Conscious of its impact upon the environment and setting a new standard.
Project Info
- Location: High Weald Landscape, Kent
- Cost: £3 Millon
- Designation: Area of Outstanding Beauty, Medieval Countryside, Paragraph 84
- Image Credit: Numa
Environmental Data
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Energy Efficiency
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Insulation
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Thermal Mass
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Airtightness
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Embodied Carbon
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
- Heating/Hot Water
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Solar Thermal
Yes No
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Rain Water Harvest
Yes No
- Ventilation
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Energy Storage
Yes No

The home seeks to explore stones properties as a low-carbon structural material, one with thermal mass and reflective of contextual presence. Using stone both externally and internally the plan blends spaces carved out cavernous and intimate with large open living spaces which open out onto the rolling landscape.
Crafted out of stone the building acknowledges the area's prominence as one of only three sandstone landscapes in the UK. Working with stone deep reveals are created, forming an interplay of light and shadow.
“The present is the ever moving shadow that divides yesterday from tomorrow. In that lies hope” – Frank Lloyd Wright


With clients who have a love of entertaining and a wide network of family and friends, they were seeking spaces to gather and celebrate. The plan provides a variety of sensory experiences through spaces which facilitate being together and finding joy. Carved double-height spaces wrapped in stone provide a more intimate dining setting. Connected into a wooded landscape with courtyard space spilling onto the natural pool.
Opening onto the wildflower meadow large, glazed openings to the living space nestle under a deep overhang. Framing the rolling hills and extending the living space onto the wrapping terrace. This light-filled space provides a more relaxed open space to entertain and be immersed in the landscape. A space to watch the story of the land unfold.
Creating a Paragraph 84 family home in the High Weald national landscape sought a full immersion in understanding this medieval landscape. A medieval landscape notably listed as the best surviving coherent example in Northern Europe. It was this rich heritage and backdrop that was to be celebrated and brought into the family home.
In our experience and the wise words of Eileen Gray “To create one must first question everything” and in our process, we question. Question the site, the people and the response. This is required at even greater depths for a Paragraph 84 so that the resulting response is unequivocal.


