Modern Infill House, Hastings

The clients for this amazing house came to us with a small strip of land at the end of their garden that had been cut off by the neighbours parking space and garage. Our clients had sited a small cabin on the land to use as a small office space, but because of the awkward ‘Bow Tie’ shaped plan-form of the site there was little scope to place much else.

Our clients approached us with the brief of designing an office and small dance studio, but on discovering that we could actually fit a 2 bedroom house on to the site, they decided to pursue the larger project.

The ‘Bow Tie’ plan form of the site became a positive when we cut the site in two with a staircase that rose and divided the site diagonally into front and back living spaces on the ground floor and front and back bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms on the first floor. Because nearly all the external walls bounded with neighbouring properties it was recognised that we could not use conventional roofs and gutters because we could not shed rainwater onto neighbouring land, this led to the elaborate roof plan form. The rainwater now drains back onto the clients land without the use of gutters or gulleys that could have proven to be a maintenance problem in the future.

At the ground floor level the building floats above a polycarbonate wall that provides daylight and privacy to the kitchen and living space. At night the occupiers appear as shadows that move inside the illuminated belly of the floating building. To the rear of the building the snug has a small garden and a wood burning stove. On the first floor the bedrooms both have ensuite bathrooms. The front bedroom has far reaching views from a large bay window of the distant hills.

The whole project is meshed together using the latest materials and design technology to provide a quirky modern house that meets with the needs of our clients.