archer lane

New build sustainable home in a sensitive suburban site

This is a proposal for a modest, but elegant, new-build house in the back garden of an early 19^th century stone-built farmhouse. The context is quite constrained with the back gardens of adjacent houses, adjacent allotments and views from the existing house all constraining the footprint and aspect of the proposed dwelling.

The design is conceived as a sunken, walled garden to give privacy to both the occupants and the neighbours. A low block containing the kitchen, dining and circulation spaces creates the fourth wall of this garden. Straddling this is then the simply pitched roof form of the “garden shed” that straddles this block and interfaces between the private garden and the more public front face of the house. The “shed” houses the entrance, living space and bedrooms.

The “garden wall” element is designed materially to be very much part of the garden whilst the “shed” is a lightweight, cleanly detailed structure that sits in this landscape.

Location: Sheffield

Client: Private

Planning: 2015

Site: 2016

Completion: Summer 2017

Energy consumption: 23 kWh/m2.a

Budget: £200,000