Zion's Hill
Modern House Exterior, Oxfordshire
Ten years ago we might have proposed complete demolition and a whole new house. That just doesn’t wash now: we must keep what we can. So we preserved the charming 18th century parts, albeit radically upgraded, and added a new wing in a manner which is respectful in form and material but quirkily massed and modelled. This is a different game to a new build; there is richness and joy in the interplay between the old and new.
The exterior of the new half uses a palette of rubble and ashlar stone, with the former raised proud of the mortar for shadows and the latter facetted in an origami-esque manner. The interior has real wow: a timber gangway leads to a gallery with a vista through a double-height window, while stone steps lead down to a living space which flows from old to new and out to terrace and view.
It all adds up to a kind of radical retro; re-birthing the Cotswold vernacular with a dose of spatial and sculptural play.