Contemporary New Dwelling in Farnham, Surrey

Winner of an award in the UK regional stage of the International Property Awards 2014-15. Runner-up and highest placed residential project in the 2015 Waverley Design Awards Peoples Choice Award.

Photographs (c) Matt Chisnall

A naturally sloping site nestled between trees within Farnham’s Area of Special Environmental Quality is always a challenge, particularly when the client wishes to replace an existing house with a highly contemporary design.

For more photographs and floor plans please download the project brochure.

This 3,300sqft design was submitted to Waverley Borough Council in November 2012 and takes advantage of the central plateau of the site. Designed as a sculptural piece within sylvan landscape the proposed replacement dwelling is based on the concept of a ‘broken box’. The client’s aspirations were to take the now “traditional” white render box of contemporary designs and subvert it; pulling the rendered box apart to expose the timber core within. The design takes advantage of the wide frontage offered by the plot and the southerly aspect by placing the main day-to-day living spaces on the south façade, leaving more ancillary spaces to the north façade.

Using the Mantle Panel System SIPs building system which provides a U-value of 0.1 W/msqk and an air-permeability level of 1.0 allows for a highly energy efficient scheme which maximises standard glazing and open plan spaces with minimal need for columns and steel beams.