The best of this house for two former politicians near Hastings, England, has been angled and cantilevered to capture views of the sea and offer a covered parking area beneath .
Split House by London-based architecture company Alma-nac replaces a 1950s bungalow and dilapidated barn in the village of Fairlight, on England’s south coast. It is owned by Jacqui Lait, a former Conservative Get together member of parliament, and Peter Jones, former leader of East Sussex County Council, who asked the architects to design a sustainable residence that would celebrate its hilltop spot.
“The headline of the brief was for a style befitting the incredible coastal web site,” architect Caspar Rodgers informed Dezeen. “They have a lengthy-operating interest in architecture, and needed to develop a bespoke home that would also meet their needs as they develop older.”
To greatest capture the surrounding views, which get in the sea, a wildflower meadow, and the headland of Dungeness in the distance, the architects split the residence so that it juts out in three directions.
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The ground floor is angled in two directions away from the entrance to enclose a wind-sheltered room overlooking the meadow at the back, while the upper degree cantilevers out 6 and a half metres at the front to frame a see of the sea, glimpsed among neighbouring homes.
“The south-east orientation has one of the ideal views from the upper level, and the least outlook from the ground degree,” stated Rodgers. “This led us to design and style the fractured, cantilevered type, which supplies the owners with each a lookout and covered carport.”
The ground floor houses a kitchen and dining space on one particular side, and a guest bedroom and pool on the other side, while the upper level houses two bedrooms, a living room, and a library in the cantilevered part.
“By putting the library right here, the owners can view guests arrive, and see weather fronts rolling in in excess of the sea from their desk,” mentioned Rodgers.
England’s south coast has grow to be a well-liked location for adventurous architecture. Nearby Dungeness has a bungalow clad in rusted steel mesh and a converted 1930s fisherman’s hut clad in black rubber. Littlehampton, two hours west, boasts a cluster of distinctive structures, such as Thomas Heatherwick’s very first long lasting creating.
The upper degree of Split Residence is clad in a slate rainscreen – a building technique that requires raising the cladding slightly off the surface of the walls to prevent moisture from obtaining in. Windows had been set slightly into the walls to develop shadowed recesses across the home’s exterior as the sun passes.
“The home’s split form acts like a big sundial on the web site, and the resources and recesses on the facade accentuate this modifying quality of light throughout the day,” mentioned Rodgers, who chose Accoya wood for the window frames – a timber that is specially treated to resist warping or decaying.
Iroko wood was utilized for the flooring inside and was chosen for its variation of colour and pattern. Lilac cabinets were picked by the owners for the kitchen.
“They wished a actual splash of colour and character in this area,” said Rodgers.
The owners also specified coloured grout and tiles for one particular of the bathrooms, which had been laid at alternating angles to produce an abstract herringbone pattern across the walls and floor.
To meet the likely future requirements of the owners as they grow older, the residence has been fitted with a lift to let effortless access in between the floors, and all thresholds are flush so wheelchairs can move about very easily. The reduced degree has also been developed so it can be split into a separate residence in the long term, if needed.
Construction for the home, which has an inner floor location of 400 square metres, was completed in 18 months.
Photography is by Jack Hobhouse.
Task credits:
Architectural layout: Alma-nac
Structural engineer: Mark Goodbrand, Heyne Tillett Steel
Lighting style: Clementine Rodgers
Ground floor plan 
Very first floor program 
Sections Dezeen
