How we worked

After sketching various concept designs, we decided the best way to organise the house on the site was to forget the one-and-a-half-storey concept. Instead, we would reduce the height to a single storey and increase the footprint. This would give a much more dramatic interior space and make the most of sea views, yet offer a subtle unimposing exterior to fit in with other architecture on the island.  

We began by completely separating the house out so that the kitchen, living and dining area would be in a different space from the bedrooms, creating two areas with separate atmospheres. This allowed us to create a spectacular double-volume family house for the living areas, because we were able to use the roof-space as the bedrooms would be elsewhere. We could then locate the bedrooms in a cosier private area which we designed as a single-storey barn-like space. The two are then linked in the middle, and this linking area between the main house and barn becomes the entrance. This arrangement allows the public rooms to be dramatic and the private spaces to be very private. It also meant that every room could enjoy the sea views.

The entire house is clad in vertical Siberian Larch board and batten with a dark black profile metal sheet roof. The house is typical in scale to other island houses and the barn has a curved profile metal sheet roof, which nods to traditional island barn design.