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The North Gower Coast

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The site is located on the North Gower Coast, on the edge of National Trust Land, occupying an elevated position. There were three buildings on the site, the old school house, the main house which is demolished and replaced in the design, and a barn. The highly sensitive rural location prompted the architects to arrange the volumes over three stepped wings, set into the slope of the hill instead of on the hill, in order to minimize the visual impact. Applying this fragmented layout, the dwelling successfully managed to reduce its volume to the minimum that it can only be seen in its entirely only from the air. From ground level only fragments are visible at any one time.
Exposed on the northern, eastern and southern sides, backed against and cut into rising land to the west, the main façades of the three wings is facing due east, catching dramatic 270°panoramic views. The wings are also made to follow the contours of the hill to make a more seamless conjunction with the landscape.

2.2 Materials

The clients required to have a sustainable, low maintenance and lifelong home, so the architects employed reinforced in-situ concrete as the main material for the dwelling, which is also used generally in the local farm building. Another predominant material used is Corten/weathered steel, of which the reddish-orange brown colour tones perfectly with the bracken that covers some of the nearby fields. The weathering process happens through time makes the steel a ‘living’ material
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