Hill House Kent

Tags: private homes, new build, low carbon

Related projects: Caroline Place

Hill House Kent - Webb Yates Engineers
Hill House Kent - Webb Yates Engineers
Hill House Kent - Webb Yates Engineers
Hill House Kent - Webb Yates Engineers

This new build private house sits on a former garden nursery site in the heart of the Kent countryside.

It was always envisaged that the house be principally constructed of timber. Its warmth, low carbon footprint and ease of future adaptability made it the natural choice. The challenge in this instance was to directly engage the lightweight timber structure with the steep sloping landscape setting, which would help reduce its visual impact and to create a more synergistic final composition. The building appears single storey upon approach; however a lower ground floor appears as the land naturally falls away.

The timber framed house is set into the ground by 3m, but rather than using a concrete retaining wall, a nylon soil reinforcement has been used. The timber frame sits in the hole formed by the soil reinforcement on small discreet isolated pad foundations.

The resulting composition celebrates the setting, and the materials used in the construction, designed with great care and constructed by real crafts people.

Awards

  1. RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize 2012, shortlisted, 1 2011
  2. RIBA South East Awards 2012, winner, 1 2011
  3. Kent Design & Development Awards 2012, winner, 1 2011
  4. Kent Design & Development Awards 2012, Environmental Design, shortlisted, 1 2011