Bold and Beautiful

Riverhayes is a contemporary dwelling that replaces an existing bungalow on a plot with views of the River Exe and nearby estuary. A palette of materials was chosen to highlight elements of the building that relate to specific living spaces inside.

The traditional pitched roof has been given a contemporary twist; a bold outline of the traditional ‘house’ shape, wrapped in zinc, extends through the building form. The inclusion of a crisp, flat roof volume accentuates the contemporary essence of the design. This is further enhanced by clean, white render with recessed spaces clad in timber, the intention being to harmonise the overall effect within the surrounding landscape.

Extensive glazing to the rear of the property makes a strong connection to the garden, bridging inside and out. Balconies on the upper floors allow that connection to flow across the entire rear elevation.

In terms of sustainability, the main objectives were to provide a high-quality, energy-efficient home within a healthy living environment. To achieve this, Barc first looked to make use of passive design principals, to manipulate the layout and form to provide good levels of daylighting, solar gain and shading, where required.

The architects then focused on designing a well-insulated, airtight building fabric, in order to warrant the use of a highly efficient Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery system. This is a means of extracting moist, stale air from a house and replacing it with fresh, warmed filtered air, while recovering up to 95% of the heat from the extracted air.

The result: a bold, spacious design, in a first-class home that is kind to its environment.

www.barcarchitects.com