Reid Architects
Projects
Birchwood House, Private House
The brief to Reid Architects was to create a contemporary family residence. The dwelling is located next to an area of National Forest in rural Staffordshire. The planning guidelines of the local area placed certain constraints on the scheme, the most significant of which was that the existing dwelling could not be replaced, only extended and re-clad.
It was important to the Client that the building elements create defined external enclosures – a courtyard entrance to the front of the house and garden space to the rear. The site slopes away from the building, the ground terraced to create individual landscapes at the top of which the house stands.
Solid elements of the existing house are removed and replaced with expanses of glazing creating a connection between the garden and wider countryside. Timber cladding, rendered panels and high quality brickwork replace the existing building fabric and a once disparate form is united with a slate roof.
It was important to both the Client and Reid Architects that sustainable energy systems were incorporated into the design. Solar thermal collectors are incorporated into the roof structure and crops planted on land owned by the Client fuel a multi-fuel biomass boiler.