Tudor Cottage
Tudor Cottage, set in the South Downs National Park, provides crafted and sensitive spaces that reinforce the character of the original listed house. Allowing the large and growing family much-needed flexibility and a practical offering. This considered renovation, extension and outbuilding is reflective of time and place. The contemporary extension and renovation analyses and implements the proportions of the listed cottage. Creating light and open spaces for the family to gather and retreat. The additions will allow the growing family to celebrate and protect the listed cottage long into the future.
Project Info
- Location: West Sussex
- Cost: £1.2m
- Designation: South Downs National Park
- Collaborators: Whaleback, Owen Allpress, Ecosupport
- Image Credit: Ineffable Tale Studio
Environmental Data
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Insulation
1 2 3 4 5
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Thermal Mass
1 2 3 4 5
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Airtightness
1 2 3 4 5
- Heating/Hot Water
-
Solar Thermal
Yes No
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Rain Water Harvest
Yes No
- Ventilation
-
Energy Storage
Yes No
"To provide meaningful architecture is not to parody history but to articulate it"
- Daniel Libeskind -
Set adjacent to ancient woodland in the South Downs National Park, the development has to balance ecology alongside heritage. All whilst ensuring the building became usable. Providing a flexible, light open space for the growing family supports the protection of the listed cottage. Contemporary additions strip away the clumsy and damaging existing extensions to celebrate the original cottage and its materiality. A facade study of the original cottage provided the proportions of the new proposals. Ensuring that what is provided is an offering reflective of time and place. Achieving planning permission for the application was the result of a close collaboration between the design team to achieve the client's ambitions.
An open plan extension provides valuable gathering space for the family where they can engage with nature. Pulling in nature through natural light and openings onto garden rooms for eating and most importantly playing. Landscaping interventions seek to enhance and include a natural swimming pond which supports the site's enhancement of biodiversity and also provides a space for the family to gather and play.
An additional annexe building fronts the pool, visually connected to the main cottage with a courtyard space. Despite its compact form, it provides a highly performing space for the older children to be accommodated in and retreat to in the summers.
Its material palette is responsive. Using historic clunch stone walls is both a considerate addition but also a sustainable approach with low embodied carbon properties and high thermal mass. The wall wraps into a courtyard space connecting the annexe and the main house. In contrast, natural interiors of wood and clay plaster provide a sustainably considered soft and textural base to family life supporting the development of the cottage from a building into a home.
Working with existing buildings pushes us to question our interventions and we strive to celebrate the heritage. This scheme is developing further with a wider masterplan with the ancient woodland and holiday accommodation.
Historic buildings provide a story on which to reflect, we are architectural storytellers and it is essential that every project has a unique storyline that is considerate of the people and place. At PAD studio we care passionately about what we do, good design inspires us. We seek to imbue our work with not only environmental considerations but poetics to create longevity and add value.