John Pardey Architects

Narula House

Narula House
© Jim Stephenson

NARULA HOUSE

John Pardey Architects

MANUFACTURERS
Lutron, Brunner, Bulthaup, Russwood, Velfac, Skyframe

PHOTOGRAPHS
Jim Stephenson

AREA
300 m²

YEAR
2018

LOCATION
United Kingdom

CATEGORY
Houses

Text description provided by architect.

Located on the banks of the River Loddon, a tributary of the Thames near Wargrave in Berkshire the house sits within Flood Zone 3b with a potential flood depth of 1.17m in the worst-case scenario.

Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson

Our design places the house on stilts which raises the house by 2.2m above the 1:100 year plus predicted Climate Change flood level to make a useful space for casual parking.

The house ‘floats’ across the site in a single, linear form and is aligned on the cardinal points north-south. The linear form plays against the meandering river – the linear against the arabesque.

Approaching the house an open treads staircase climbs up to the entrance deck. A natural iroko front door is sheltered beneath a canopy to provide a welcoming and sheltered point of arrival.

Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson

Inside, the lobby is generous and immediately offers surprise as it opens onto a raised outdoor court that is framed to the sky and has a staircase back down to the grassy riverbank.

To one side of the outdoor court lies a large open-plan living space with no structural columns to the glazed riverfront, offering unbroken panoramic views of the river.

Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson

A balcony runs along the length of the living space with glass balustrading, sheltered beneath the oversailing roof – this roof also oversails the bedrooms and ancillary rooms, lending solar shading and providing an abstract, reading of the volume as folded planes.

To the other side, a generous circulation space runs along the north side of the house with storage to one side, serving study, media room, utility spaces, cloakroom, and three bedrooms all with en-suite bathrooms.

Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson

A brick chimney, with a barbeque at the ground and first-floor levels combined with a woodburning stove in the living room, anchors the house to the site.

From the main entrance, a glass link connects to a freestanding pavilion provides a ‘granny flat’ for guests. The house has a slender steel-framed structure, infilled with timber framing and insulation, all bearing on piled foundations (one per column).

Larch cladding, coated with a translucent preservative that slowly reacts to UV light to lend a whitish tone makes the whole form slightly abstract seen against the surrounding nature.

Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson

Dark grey cementitious boarded infills sit between glazing panels. An earthy grey brick forms the chimney structure and three fins containing service drops.


Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson
Narula House
© Jim Stephenson


Narula House
Elevations 01
Narula House
Elevations 02


Narula House
Plan - Site
Narula House
Plan - Ground Floor
Narula House
Plan - First Floor
Narula House
Section

John Pardey Architects
T +44 1590 626465
John Pardey Architects
Beck Farm Studio, St Leonards Rd, Lymington SO41 5SR, United Kingdom