Written by Helen Needham – a Chartered Architect and our Architectural Department Manager
Martin and Tessa King have lived on the outskirts of Coventry for many years. Having recently retired after running a successful deli business, they wanted to build their dream home, and so began their home building journey by buying a nearby site which had outline planning permission already in place for a new house.
The architectural design process
Following Martin and Tessa’s enquiry, David Grey, our Sales Director, and I met with them at their current property to discuss their wish list. During this meeting, it is not only the facts we record, such as the number of bedrooms and the ‘working’ requirements of the house etc., we recognise the warmth, atmosphere, and qualities of their current home they would like to bring into their new design, and a central part of this is connecting with their own persona’s to translate into the new house. Interestingly, Martin and Tessa’s home at the time was Victorian, with a plethora of original features, and they were amazing hosts, enjoying cooking and socialising.
It became evident from our initial discussion together that Martin and Tessa needed a lovely, light and airy open-plan day room, making the most of the kitchen, dining, and living room areas so they could also enjoy their private rear garden. Their site is suburban, set in-between two existing homes; one of which was being extended and refurbished itself at the time. Making the most of the width of Martin and Tessa’s site was important and having a safe and secure frontage that knitted well with the street scene, accounting for a mixture of materials, ridge heights, forms, and proportions along the road it would be positioned on.
Our in-house Architectural Design team here at Oakwrights pride ourselves in working in collaboration with each other. Having liaised with Martin and Tessa, I brought onboard David Bryan, an Architectural Designer within our team, and we worked together on a new concept for Martin and Tessa’s site. David thought a two-bay design would be appropriate, making the most of the width of the site, and creating good sized bay widths for the main day room spaces. We also liaised with our in-house Frame and Encapsulation teams who gave their specialist guidance and input during the early stages.
This two-bay concept really helped to steer the flow of the plan that developed in-house, while bouncing ideas off Martin and Tessa during various meetings. This included some interesting exploration into where exactly to place the main entrance and side doors. We wanted to create a main ‘wow’ space in the entertaining area, and this was created over the living area with a feature woodburning stove. Rooflights were cleverly placed above the staircase and a void created to allow light to funnel into the ground floorplan.
This stair led to a really useful study area, also overlooking the double-height sitting room. The master bedroom was positioned to overlook the rear walled garden, with its own rear full balcony, carefully landscaped with a privacy screen to the neighbouring property. Well established trees lie to the rear of the site, and so the bed was positioned to have a good view of the wildlife here too. Again, the flow of the plan and span of the oak frame created a walk through a neat dressing room to an en-suite. Bedrooms two and three were positioned to the front of the house with a shared family bathroom, and the splitting of the frame itself created some characterful rooms.
The materials, proportions and their detailing on all elevations were key to this scheme. Render and brickwork with a clay tiled roof was chosen, which sits beautifully in the street scene. Interestingly, the front entrance door changed positions throughout our design evolution. Sometimes, it takes several sets of eyes and collaboration with our clients to ensure we create something aesthetically correct for the site and context, but also to ensure our clients are comfortable with the flow both for themselves and their visitors; we think and discuss down to the process of where to hang coats and take shoes off.
The planning application process
Lee Wilson, an Architectural Technician within our team, did a grand job of producing the Building Regulations and related predicted Energy (SAP) reports.
Coventry Council were extremely helpful, and we found their timescales dovetailed well with the eventual building programme. Martin and Tessa used an excellent builder who they had known for many years which proved to be a successful relationship. Our project management of Martin and Tessa’s oak framed home, working alongside the experienced builder on-site, was smooth and well considered. The result of this teamwork is a stunning and timeless design that is sympathetic to the important immediate suburban context and hits Martin and Tessa’s original brief with beauty. Enjoy your happy home Martin and Tessa: you were always a delight to work alongside!
The team behind the design of this oak frame project:
Would you like to learn more about Martin and Tessa’s home building journey? Please see a link to their case study below.
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