Project Title: Pencanlenick House
Location: Lanteglos by Fowey, Cornwall
Wood Species: ENGLISH CEDAR, ENGLISH ELM, & GLU-LAM STRUCTURAL FRAME
Project Description
The brief was for a holiday home for the client and his family for a site overlooking the picturesque Fowey estuary. The building was to respond to the site’s topography, aspect and environment in a sensitive yet thoroughly contemporary manner. The one spatial constraint was to be able to ascend from the main living space to the bedroom level.
Our response to the brief lead us to create a curved plan that followed the site contours and was embedded into the steeply sloping hillside. A turfed roof continues the landscape whilst the perimeter indicates the structural form beneath; a line of glazing set at the same level as the grass denotes the internal circulation spine linking the various living spaces, and the retaining wall against the hill. From the water the long volume is clearly book-ended into the hill by means of inserted Cornish slate retaining walls that also facilitate changes in level within the building and the landscape beyond.
Planning Constraints
The site is adjacent to National Trust forest, overlooks the picturesque Fowey estuary, and is crossed by the historic Hall Walk, and as a result, the project was sensitive from a planning point of view. The existence of a demolished Victorian isolation hospital on the site was helpful as it was an established occupation that created the parameters for locating the building.
The choice of materials was such that native finishes were referenced where possible, the overall effect of which created a building which, although uncompromisingly contemporary, sits very comfortably with the surrounding woodland.
In spite of the sensitivity and the initial resistance to our proposals, in 2007 Caradon Council awarded the house the Caradon Design Award for both the Best New Housing Design and Best Overall Scheme of 2007.
Materials & Method of Construction
The site was delineated via a new earth retaining concrete structure creating a shelf upon which to construct the glu-laminated timber frame structure of the house. The green roof, seeded with a bespoke mixture of local grasses is supported off the timber structure in a 900mm thick roof cassette that both insulates the building below and conceals its form higher elevations. The range of natural finishing materials (cedar external cladding, Cornish slate, salvaged elm used for internal floors and joinery, sandblasted glass for the gallery bridge) emphasise the elemental nature of the setting and provide an interplay of texture and form throughout the course of the day.
BUILDING OWNER: PRIVATE
ARCHITECT: SETH STEIN ARCHITECTS
BUILDER/MAIN CONTRACTOR: CLIVE RALPHS HEATING AND PLUMBING
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS: BARRY HONEYSETT ENGINEERS
JOINERY: PATRICK FORD WOODALL DESIGNS
