The south-west front in a late autumn storm, from the meadow below and to the left, under dark cloud with rain slanting across and a band of low light on the horizon. A long single-storey house of coursed silver-grey limestone with a grass roof and a square stone flue pier smoking on top. The left end wall has two small lit windows, and the right end two small dark ones. In the middle, a run of perforated bronze-coloured steel screens is drawn across the left half of the front, glowing with light through the holes. The right half is open, showing tall glass panes between stone piers with a warm room and a fire behind. A mossy drystone wall crosses the wet grass in the foreground. Off brief: the porch reads shallow, with a thin overhang and the glass close to the front rather than 3 m back. The view is from the left, so the porch's depth, side wall and soffit never show. The screens are a warm rust-copper where the brief has dark bronze-grey and rules out rusty orange. The foreground has a standing drystone wall where the brief has the grass ending at the edge of the sunken ha-ha. It is 3:2 rather than 16:9.

← the floor Storm Watch House/levels·if / 071

Ground floor

649 m² of ballistic, break-in resistant house in three zones round a kitchen courtyard, with the storm room on the south-west glass.

The card

levels 01 of 03

Ground floor

levels 01 of 03idea_071

The notes

rendered

The ground floor is 34 by 22 m, 649 m² inside, with a 50 m² courtyard garden in the middle and a 50 m² covered storm porch along the south-west face. It sits on the bunker roof, buried to roof level at the back.

three zones off one ring

Three zones open off one ring round the courtyard garden:

Family bedrooms to the west. The child bedroom, the flexible room, the office, laundry and linen, and the main suite.
Parent suites to the east. Two suites, each with its own ensuite and lounge.
The middle. The storm room, the kitchen and the snug.

Visitors come through the heavy front door into the entrance hall. A secure inner door can seal the hall off from the rest of the house.

The way down is behind a concealed door in the oak joinery beside the courtyard, a short level walk from every bedroom. The stove flue rises through the roof into the end pier of the drystone field wall above.

the storm wall

The south-west face is the reason for the house. Tall ballistic panes about 1.5 m wide sit between stone piers, recessed 3 m behind a covered porch, with sliding perforated steel screens across the front. Sitting and dining are at the glass, the kitchen is behind, and the snug can be closed off. A masonry stove stands at the heart of the storm room, with deep window seats along the glass.

protection

Rated to hold 1 to 3 hours against a determined break-in.
Ballistic glazing to EN 1063 in all external and courtyard openings, and doors and frames to EN 1522.
Concrete or steel-lined walls behind the stone, and no light frames anywhere on the outside.
Hardened doors throughout. The main door is a single heavy LPS 1175 rated door with a camera and intercom. The service door goes from the boot and dog room to the forecourt, and the porch doors open through the storm wall behind the screens.

rooms

Space	Area
Child bedroom + ensuite	32 m²
Flexible room + ensuite	32 m²
Office	36 m²
Laundry + linen	36 m²
Main suite: bed, dressing, ensuite	84 m²
Boot + dog room	20 m²
Entrance hall	27 m²
Guest suite	27 m²
Hidden stair + lift	13 m²
WC	6 m²
Pantry	6 m²
Snug	17 m²
Kitchen	29 m²
Sitting and storm room	40 m²
Dining	43 m²
Parent suite A: bed, ensuite, lounge	74 m²
Parent suite B: bed, ensuite, lounge	81 m²
Corridors	49 m²
Ground floor internal	649 m²
Courtyard garden, outside	50 m²
Storm porch, covered, outside	50 m²

The decisions log has the main suite, two parent suites, child room, flexible room and guest suite all ensuite. One office is daylit upstairs, and the other, with the comms, is below.

The drawings

1 sheet

Ground floor plan, sheet A-101 rev B, 1 m grid, 34 by 22 m. The main door comes in from the sunken forecourt on the uphill side to the entrance hall, with a service door into the boot and dog room beside it and a secure inner door behind. Down the west side are the child bedroom and flexible room, each with an ensuite, the office, laundry and linen, and the main suite. Down the east side are parent suites A and B, each with an ensuite and lounge. In the middle are the guest suite, the hidden stair and lift behind a concealed door, the kitchen courtyard with its table, herb beds and apple tree, a WC, the pantry, the snug, the kitchen, and the sitting and storm room with the masonry stove beside the dining room. Along the south-west face, a row of ballistic panes between piers looks onto the 50 m² covered storm porch, with two porch doors and sliding perforated steel screens along its front edge. — 01 · Ground floor plan

The plates

3 · lift any one out

Inside the storm room on a stormy autumn evening, from the dining end looking down the length of the room. On the left, tall glass panes between deep pale limestone piers, with a continuous oak window seat, linen cushions, throws and lit candles along their base. Rain streams down the glass. Through the panes are the covered porch and the dark perforated steel screens, half drawn, and beyond them storm clouds over the valley. On the right, a rounded lime-rendered masonry stove with a log fire, a log niche beside it, and a worn leather armchair. In the middle, a linen sofa on a jute rug with an oak coffee table, under oak beams and a lime plaster ceiling, with bronze pendants and table lamps. In the foreground, the end of an old oak dining table with a candle and a bowl of pears. Off brief: the stove has a wide open fire opening, where the brief has a solid masonry heater with a small glass-fronted door, no open hearth and a warm stone bench wrapped round its base. The rug is jute where the brief has undyed wool, and the sofa faces the stove rather than the glass. — 02 · Inside the storm room on a stormy autumn evening

The kitchen courtyard at summer lunchtime under a bright blue sky. Limestone walls with a fringe of wild grasses and flowers from the planted roof spill over the top. Tall glass panes sit between deep stone piers, with a lime-plastered corridor and oak doors behind them. On the left an oak-framed glass door stands open onto a kitchen with oak units and copper pans. Worn limestone flags have moss in the joints. Raised drystone beds are packed with lavender, rosemary and herbs, and an apple tree casts dappled shade. In the middle, an old oak table with rush-seated chairs is laid with a linen cloth, bread, salad, a jug and glasses. Off brief: in the strong sun the stone reads warm and honey-coloured rather than cool silver-grey, which the prompt rules out. The apple tree grows from a raised bed rather than a deep stone planter, and only two sides of the courtyard are in view. — 03 · The kitchen courtyard at summer lunchtime under a bright blue sky