This is a house that grabs you right from the start
Loyn & Co Architects for private client
Contract value: Undisclosed
GIA: 490m2
RIBA South West Building of the Year, sponsored by Marley Eternit
Outhouse is on a fabulous sloping plot in the Forest of Dean, with long views to the Wye Valley and Severn Estuary. The design exploits the potential with a house that beds into the site, finely balancing respect to context with confident architectural expression. Its simplicity is founded on rigour and restraint. The key architectural device is a plan organisation separating studio and working spaces on the uphill side and glass fronted living spaces downhill.
The design eloquently and effortlessly tackles many familiar issues – the blurred relationship between interior and exterior space, the penetration of light into a deep single aspect plan, the control of sustainability – without flaunting it. The entrance is a modernist set-piece with a covered approach flanked by a black pigmented concrete pavilion and a simple solid open stair running through a rectangular puncture in the roof plane. This is a house that grabs you, right from the start.
See other winners of the RIBA Regional Awards 2016 – South West