Acme

Bumpers Oast House

Bumpers Oast House
Courtesy of ACME

Bumpers Oast House

ACME

ARCHITECTS
Acme

MEP
Furness Green

PLANNING CONSULTANTS
Barton Willmore

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS
Etude

BUILDING CONTROL
Wilkinson Construction Consultants

DESIGN TEAM
Alia Centofanti, Nicholas Channon, Deena Fakhro, Catherine Hennessy, Katrina Hollis, Kevin Leung, Friedrich Ludewig, Lucy Moroney, Heidrun Schuhmann, Penny Sperbund

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS
Akt

CONTRACTOR
Harry Barnes

PHOTOGRAPHS
Jim Stephenson

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Kent, United Kingdom

CATEGORY
Houses

Text description provided by architect.

Bumpers Oast represents a 21st century riff on a local vernacular derived from the houses used to dry hops as part of the beer-brewing process.

Four shingle-clad towers rise up from the natural surroundings, creating an extremely low-energy home with a bold contemporary aesthetic.

Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson

The property has been created for a family that moved to Kent 10 years ago and almost bought an oast house at that time They enjoyed the intimacy and idiosyncrasies of living in circular spaces and so were happy to receive a proposal from ACME for a modern interpretation.

The proportions of the tower roundels were based on a traditional oast and they stand slightly apart from one another; creating views inwards and outwards, and housing private functions such as bedrooms, bathrooms, and service spaces.

The towers are all connected to a triple-height central space that opens out to an orchard setting and forms the heart of the house.

This was made possible by assembling the frame with thick timber modules, topped by cones manufactured offsite and then craned into position.

Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson

Kent-style tiles have been used to create the exterior skin in six shades, slowly fading from dark red at the base to light orange at the tip.

These were produced using local craft skills and the tiling work was a huge technical challenge.

Every tile above eaves level has been individually cut, with over 41,000 used across the whole facade.

Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson

The interior of the roundels is clad in plywood, as a continuous surface for the cylindrical parts, and as overlapping plywood shingles for the roof cones.

Curved furniture is built into the rooms where possible to make the best use of the space.

The kitchen needed to feel warm among the harder surfaces downstairs, as the family see it as an important gathering space.

Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson

Timber was selected for this reason and it has been employed to create bespoke curved units and fronts to follow the line of the wall.

A microcement was used to form the counter top to achieve a continuous surface that matches the polished concrete floor.

Each of the bedroom spaces is split level, which creates a play space for the children on the lower level that can later be adapted for study, while the master bedroom is designed with a dressing area in the upper space that opens onto an en suite.

Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson

Helical stairs lead the family into the conical sleeping spaces, with thin balustrades made of gently curving plywood. The bathrooms have been created as open-plan niches with no screens, therefore the room size is designed to match its purpose and allow for in-built storage.

Microcement is used again to pick up on the materials downstairs and to accommodate the unusual geometry of the interiors. 

Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson

The downstairs bathroom uses mosaic which echoes the grey tones of the concrete. As it is a north-facing room, matt and gloss finishes have been employed to play with reflections from sunlight as it enters the space. In fact, all window openings have reveals formed by the walls folding into them, which increases the light refraction coming into the rooms.

All bedrooms are on the first floor, and each one has its own private staircase to an upper level in the roof cone, creating a building that is entirely communal on the ground, shared on the first, and full of secluded treehouse-like retreats on the second floor.

Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson

The building’s sustainable credentials stem from its heavily-insulated timber frame structure, which breaks from the tradition of solid bricks walls usually used to construct oast houses.


Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
Courtesy of ACME
Bumpers Oast House
Courtesy of ACME
Bumpers Oast House
Courtesy of ACME
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
Courtesy of ACME


Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson
Bumpers Oast House
© Jim Stephenson


Bumpers Oast House
Site plan
Bumpers Oast House
Ground floor plan
Bumpers Oast House
First floor plan
Bumpers Oast House
Second floor plan


Bumpers Oast House
South elevation
Bumpers Oast House
North elevation
Bumpers Oast House
Section A-A
Bumpers Oast House
Section B-B


Bumpers Oast House
Facade pattern
Bumpers Oast House
Unrolled atrium elevation


Bumpers Oast House
Structure diagram

Bumpers Oast House
Cone diagram

Bumpers Oast House
Diagrams

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