Ideas Factory/ the foundry

29 on the go · 3 materials
nothing here is finished

The entrance hall, from just inside the front door. Rough gritstone walls, large dark stone flags and a dark oak-boarded ceiling. Ahead, a square glazed court open to the sky, with gritstone walls and a still water basin, is the only bright thing in view. On the left, chunky gritstone treads rise beside the stone wall with an oak handrail, and flush dark oak cupboard doors line the hall. Close to the brief. Off brief: the stair has a handrail on the wall side only, where the brief asks for handrails on both sides.

← the floorHidden Garden House/spaces·if / 063

The main house

13 by 24 m: a dim stone hall round an open court, and the living floor upstairs on the garden glass.

The card

spaces 01 of 04

The main house

spaces 01 of 04idea_063

The notes

rendered

The main house is 13 m wide and 24 m deep, a single gable to the street. The entrance and garden rooms are on the ground floor, inside a solid gritstone storey. The living floor is upstairs, all on one level about 3.3 m up. The house was widened 1 m west and lengthened 2 m to make room for the kitchen and dining room.

the way in

From the street the only break in the 13 m of gritstone is the porch niche, lined in oak and lit from within, with the dusty blue-grey door. Inside, the hall is dim and hushed: gritstone walls, large dark flags and a dark oak ceiling. The only bright thing in view is the stone court in the middle of the house, open to the sky, with a gritstone floor and a still water basin.

The hall stays solid towards the terrace, so the garden is not revealed until you are upstairs.

the stair

Solid gritstone treads cantilevered from a stone wall built as the stair's support, in a dog-leg with a half landing. A window at the landing looks down into the court and its water. The treads are tooled for grip, with oak handrails on both sides. The lift is beside it.

ground floor

Room Size (m) Area
Porch 3.0 × 2.5 8 m²
Coats 2.5 × 7.0 18 m²
Entrance hall 7.0 × 5.5 39 m²
WC and shower 3.5 × 4.0 14 m²
Utility 3.5 × 6.0 21 m²
Stair and lift 4.0 × 6.0 24 m²
Stone court, open to the sky 4.0 × 4.0 16 m²
Gym 5.0 × 14.0 70 m²
Garden room 4.0 × 11.0 44 m²
Covered terrace 4.0 × 12.0 48 m²

The garden room and the covered terrace sit under the lounge, sheltered by the upper floor that oversails them. Sizes are to the grid lines, before wall thicknesses, so expect each room to lose about 0.3 m in each direction.

upper floor

Broken plan, made with screens, a fireplace wall and ceiling changes rather than steps, so the floor stays level for life.

  • The front band. Two flex rooms behind the slot windows, a snug and a study now and bedroom-ready for resale. Between them is the reading nook, with its window seat in the bronze oriel over the porch.
  • The middle band. The stair and lift, the court and a family bathroom. Along the west side is a cook's kitchen with a range wall, an island and a walk-in pantry. The dining room for six sits between the kitchen and the court, partly enclosed with sliding screens. It looks onto the stone and water rather than the garden, so it feels like its own room.
  • The rear band. A fireside corner against a gritstone wall, with a large inset open firebox behind glass doors. The lounge and the main suite face the garden through full-height bronze-framed glazing. A 5.0 × 1.8 m balcony steps out of the lounge over the patio, with an oak rail and fine bronze bars to match the bridges.

The main suite is in the rear west corner: evening sun, and the furthest point from the wing and the guests' route.

Room Size (m) Area
Flex room 1 (snug) 4.5 × 5.0 23 m²
Reading nook 4.0 × 5.0 20 m²
Flex room 2 (study) 4.5 × 5.0 23 m²
Landing 8.0 × 2.5 20 m²
Bathroom 5.0 × 3.0 15 m²
Stair and lift 4.0 × 5.5 22 m²
Pantry 5.0 × 2.5 13 m²
Kitchen 5.0 × 6.5 33 m²
Dining room 4.0 × 5.0 20 m²
Fireside 4.0 × 5.0 20 m²
Lounge 6.5 × 6.0 39 m²
Main suite 6.5 × 4.0 26 m²
Dressing 3.0 × 3.0 9 m²
En suite 3.5 × 3.0 11 m²
Balcony 5.0 × 1.8 9 m²

Daylight comes from the rear glazing, a line of rooflights along the ridge and the stone court, which drops light to both floors.

The drawings

4 sheets
Ground floor and site plan, sheet A-01, 1 square to 1 m, street at the bottom, north arrow pointing down. A 12 m planted approach with a stone path leads to the porch. The gravel drive runs the full length of the east side, on the left, to the rear turning court, with the drive gate in the street wall. The house is 13 m wide: coats, entrance hall, WC and shower and utility at the front, the stair and lift and the stone court with its basin in the middle, and the garden room, covered terrace and gym at the back. A side path runs down the west side, closed by the side gate. The wing holds plant and stores, the workshop with loading doors, the display hall glazed to the garden, and storage and bins with a door onto the drive. The garden has the patio and fire pit, the lawn with the rill, the kitchen garden and the woodland walk. Across the back are the annexe stair and lift with the guest door off the drive, three garage bays facing the rear court, and the garden store.
01 · Ground floor and site plan
Upper floor plan, sheet A-02, level +3.3 m, street at the bottom. At the front, flex room 1 (snug), the reading nook and flex room 2 (study), with slot windows and the bronze oriel, under the dashed outline of the 1.5 m roof hood. Behind them, the landing and bathroom, then the stair and lift, the stone court void, the pantry and kitchen, the dining room and the fireside corner. At the back, the lounge with its 5.0 × 1.8 m balcony and the main suite with dressing and en suite, on full-height glazing over the garden below. The wing runs up the left: collections gallery, office, open bridge, hobby room, library, open bridge. Across the back, the annexe lift, the kitchen and lounge facing the garden, and two guest bedrooms each with an en suite and wardrobe. The oriel and hood are drawn at their briefed depths of 0.8 m and 1.5 m. The source drawing drew them several metres deep.
02 · Upper floor plan
Street elevation, sheet A-03, ticks at 1 m. A 13 m gable on a gritstone plinth, with the plinth carrying on as the boundary wall either side and the oak-slatted drive gate on the left. The porch niche is oak-lined with a blue-grey door. Above, the oak fin screen covers the putty render, with four slot windows in stone surrounds and the bronze oriel centred over the porch. The zinc roof runs on as a 1.5 m hood with an oak underside, and the ridge is at about 10.1 m. Dashed behind are the wing, 8 m back, and the annexe roof at 8.0 m, both hidden from the street.
03 · Street elevation
Long section A-A from the street to the rear court, ticks at 1 m. The house has the hall and covered terrace on the ground floor, and the flex rooms, landing, lounge and suite above, under ridge rooflights, with the 1.5 m hood at the street end. The stone court drops through both floors with the basin at the bottom, and the lounge balcony projects over the terrace. The wing is dashed beyond, with gaps at upper level for the open bridges. The garden lies between the house and the block at the back, which has the garage below and the annexe above under a mono-pitch roof, 6.0 m to the garden and 8.0 m to the court. The hood is drawn at its briefed 1.5 m. The source drawing drew it about 6.5 m deep.
04 · Long section A-A from the street to the rear court

The plates

5 · lift any one out
The entrance hall, from just inside the front door. Rough gritstone walls, large dark stone flags and a dark oak-boarded ceiling. Ahead, a square glazed court open to the sky, with gritstone walls and a still water basin, is the only bright thing in view. On the left, chunky gritstone treads rise beside the stone wall with an oak handrail, and flush dark oak cupboard doors line the hall. Close to the brief. Off brief: the stair has a handrail on the wall side only, where the brief asks for handrails on both sides.
01 · The entrance hall
The half landing of the dog-leg stair. Heavy textured gritstone treads rise on the left between rough stone walls, under a dark timber ceiling. A deep-set square window in the stone looks down into the open court and its still water basin, lit from above. The lower flight turns away on the right with its own oak handrail. Close to the brief. Off brief: the upper flight shows a handrail on one side only.
02 · The half landing of the dog-leg stair
The reveal, from the lounge on the upper floor at sunset. Leather sofas, a jute rug and a heavy oak table sit under a vaulted oak ceiling with a ridge rooflight. On the right, a rough gritstone wall holds a long inset fire behind glass. Through the full-height glazed gable, past the oak and bronze balcony rail, the garden runs away south: the patio with a fire pit and two chairs, the lawn and its rill, birches and the gritstone boundary wall. The two-storey wing runs down the left side. Off brief: the block at the far end is a small single-storey glazed pavilion, where the brief has the two-storey garage and annexe block with a mono-pitch roof. The kitchen-garden beds are missing from the near right corner, and the wing's upper storey reads as one long open gallery rather than enclosed rooms broken by two open bridges.
03 · The reveal
Close 3D cutaway of the main house upper floor from above, street at the bottom. At the back: the lounge with a leather sofa beside the full-height glazing and the main suite with a freestanding bath. In the middle: the dining table for six, the kitchen with its island and range, the stair and lift, and the square open court with its water basin. At the front: the snug with bookshelves, the study with a desk and the oriel window seat between them, over the oak-finned and gritstone street front. Close to the plan. Off brief: the court is planted round its edges, where the prompts keep it bare stone and water, and the stair is drawn as a single straight flight rather than a dog-leg.
04 · Close 3D cutaway of the main house upper floor from above
The street front at dusk after rain, from the pavement. A single gable 13 m wide sits behind a low gritstone street wall and a front garden of tall grasses and young birches, all uplit. The ground storey is coursed grey gritstone with a grey front door in an oak-lined opening at its centre. Above, the upper storey and gable are wrapped in vertical oak fins, with four tall slot windows glowing through them and a deep bronze-framed oriel centred over the door, showing a lit window seat. The zinc roof runs forward as a hood with a warm oak underside. An oak-slatted drive gate is on the left, and ordinary stone houses sit at either edge. Off brief: the door reads plain grey rather than dusty blue-grey, the porch reads as a framed door almost flush with the stone rather than a niche recessed about 2.5 m, and the path seems to step up to the door, where the brief is step-free.
05 · The street front at dusk after rain