About

Set within the South Downs National Park, this architect designed family home is built on the footprint of a former farmworker’s cottage. The house is formed as a sequence of stepped volumes, rising from a single-storey entrance at the northern end to a three storey tower to the southern elevation. The result is a building that shifts in scale as you move through it, with compressed and expanded spaces guiding circulation and light.

Constructed in structural concrete and wrapped in a thick brick skin, the house draws on Brutalist principles while responding directly to its rural context. Arched brick window openings punctuate the elevations, creating a rhythm across the façade while also revealing the depth of the wall construction from within. The southern elevation becomes the most dominant element, rising vertically into a tower that anchors the composition.

At ground floor level, the entrance vestibule leads into a large open plan kitchen, dining and family space. This room is defined by a 4.5 metre ceiling height and a strong material palette of raw concrete walls and white oiled pine floors. A central island forms the focus of the kitchen, while utilities are concealed within recessed volumes. Around the perimeter, six internal concrete “towers” contain secondary functions including a cloakroom, study, larder and storage, embedded within the structure itself.

A more compressed internal passage leads through to the drawing room. This transition is deliberately darker and narrower, heightening the contrast on entry. The drawing room opens fully to the south, where large glazed openings bring in direct light and frame views across the surrounding landscape. Double doors extend the space onto a terrace overlooking the undulating South Downs. The room combines contemporary art, layered textiles and antique pieces, with a large tapestry acting as a key visual anchor alongside an open fireplace.

The upper two floors contain seven bedrooms arranged within the stepped massing of the house. The third floor is reserved for two principal suites, each with dressing rooms and en suite bathrooms featuring freestanding baths. Large picture windows frame long views across the landscape, reinforcing the sense of elevation and separation from the main living spaces below.

The architectural language of the house balances weight and precision. Exposed concrete surfaces are left as cast, retaining the imprint of formwork, while the brick envelope introduces texture and rhythm externally. The interplay between solid and void, light and enclosure, defines the character of the building throughout.