Red Bridge House
RED BRIDGE HOUSE
Smerin Architects
ARCHITECTS
Smerin Architects
LOCATION
East Sussex, United Kingdom
CATEGORY
Houses
AREA
345.0 sqm
YEAR
2013
FLOOR AREA GARAGE
120 sqm/1,300 sqft
PHOTOGRAPHS
Tim Crocker
BUILDING SERVICES ENGINEERING
Mendick Waring
SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTING
Mendick Waring
QUANTITY SURVEYOR
AB Associates
ROOF SAFETY ACCESS
Williams Roofing
GLAZING
IQ Glass/Ide Contracting
INTERNAL FINISHING
Johnson Friel
LIGHTING DESIGN
Light Tecnica
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Lyons O'Neill
MAIN CONTRACTOR
Client self-build
STRUCTURAL STEELWORK
Southern Fabrications
PRECAST CONCRETE
Hanson
METAL CLADDING
Brandclad
CONCRETE FLOORING
Lazenby
GARAGE
Anson Timberworks
BUILDING SERVICES
Enevis
SWIMMING POOL
Buckingham Pools
JOINERY
Joe Mellows Furniture
KITCHEN
Kitchen Coordination
ARPENTRY / TIMBER CLADDING
Hammerwood
CONSTRUCTION COST HOUSE AND GARAGE
£2,500 sqm/£230 sqft
In an area of ancient woodland bordering Ashdown Forest in East Sussex the new build house for a private client is set into a hillside overlooking a stream and the Wealden farmland beyond.
Arranged over three levels the main living spaces, accessed via a folded steel plate bridge, occupy the middle floor and lead out to a generous verandah hung from and sheltered by the overhanging roof.
Solid oak stairs machined from timber from the woods and cantilevered from the supporting concrete walls lead either up to the bedroom floor or down to a strip of utility spaces and through to a swimming pool room whose sliding glass wall opens up to the adjoining covered terrace and surrounding meadow.
Internally insitu concrete walls and precast concrete floors are honestly expressed whilst externally glazed areas are set within timber clad elevations on three sides.
The fourth side overlooking the entrance driveway is clad in corten steel panels whose oxidised surface echoes the autumnal hue of the trees around and timber cladding adjacent.
Although clearly contemporary this palette of materials and the pared back aesthetic used also recalls the honest quality of the agricultural buildings around making the new house a distinctive but appropriate addition to the rural landscape.
