House of the Year 2024 shortlist: Farmworker's House

This deceptively simple house sits in a wooded corner of a field on a working farm, a mile inland from the Cornish coast. The farm owner client commissioned the architect to provide accommodation for the farm manager and the result skilfully balances the agricultural and domestic, the humble and grand.

The house is barely visible from beyond its immediate realm and sits lightly yet robustly in the rural setting. It is single storey with a pitched roof and L-shaped in plan, with a wall closing off the other two sides to create a delightful courtyard garden – a place for play, drying washing and growing vegetables. It contains domestic activity, discouraging its intrusion across the agricultural domain.

Inside, subtle moves gently guide and play with perceptions of the spaces. A wide, full-height opening leads to the open-plan living area and a small, domestic-scale doorway to the contrastingly cellular bedroom wing. 

The positioning of a fireplace and two windows is reminiscent of a manor house. However, a small, high window on the gable filters morning light through the roof timbers as if in a barn.

The material palette is restrained and sophisticated: the home-grown Douglas fir roof structure is exposed, floors are dark brick, recalling Victorian stable pavers, and the walls are unpainted lime plaster – a smoother, silkier version of the roughcast outside. Beneath the plaster, walls of hollow clay blocks exceed ever-tighter building regulations requirements for U-values and airtightness without need for additional insulation, membranes or a cavity.

The jury recognised the project’s exceptional discipline and judgement, commenting: ‘This is a great example of a clear design response to a brief delivered with rigour and material sensitivity. The L-shape plan with a walled courtyard garden allows the cows to graze up to the boundary walls, provides a well-sheltered environment and thoughtfully delineates the domestic boundaries.’

What is your favourite feature of the house?

Hugh Strange Being so near the Atlantic, the site basks in glorious sunshine at times, but often it is battered by wild winds and torrential rains. I think the house really succeeds in navigating these contrasting environmental conditions: the thick walls, low-slung sectional profile and L-shaped plan provide shelter from the elements, while the regular and generous windows open onto the courtyard garden invite outdoor living on sun-drenched summer days. 

I’m very happy that we achieved this feat, not through complex formal or technological solutions, but with a rigorous design that combines simple and considered planning with a direct approach to construction and detailing.
 
What was the greatest challenge?

My model of architectural practice is predicated on close involvement with works during site operations. I like to develop a collaborative relationship with builders, working together to resolve issues, and keeping an open mind as to how the design might develop. This project was particularly problematic in this respect, as it was undertaken during various Covid-19 lockdowns. As a result, I certainly visited the site less than I would usually, and this enforced distance presented a real challenge to my normal working methods. Like others, I relied on FaceTime site visits and the like, but missed the sense of proximity and immediacy.

What lessons from the project could be applied elsewhere?

The house is atypical of contemporary rural dwellings in some ways, yet it addresses many of the issues facing contemporary development in the countryside.
Containment of the domestic realm within the walls of the courtyard and the primary orientation of the house towards this garden space allow the surrounding field to remain untouched. The project favours modesty, compactness and restraint over sprawl and encroachment. Hopefully there are lessons in this for wider application in rural housing developments.

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