Ideas Factory/ the foundry

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nothing here is finished

The west side at sunset, from the meadow below and to the south-west, with the sun setting over a wide valley on the left. A long two-storey house under a single steep black standing seam roof with one chimney, the upper floor timber-clad between long runs of glass, lit warm from inside. On the ground floor a limestone terrace runs along the glass with a dining table and grill under a black steel pergola at the left end and a round fire pit burning in the middle. A panel of vertical timber slats stands in front of part of the ground floor glass. The right-hand end is coursed pale limestone on both floors, with a glass balcony across the upper floor and a tall lit window in the stone below it. Long grass in the foreground. Off brief: the den at the left end should be one vaulted room with no floor above, but the render runs the upper floor and its glass right through it. The cinema should have no windows on the west side, with the limestone running solid along its 10 m length, but the render puts a tall lit window into the stone base. The stone also climbs the upper floor round the bedroom, where the drawings have only the end wall and the cinema base in limestone. A bed shows through the glass mid-way along the upper floor, where the drawings have the upstairs lounge and covered terrace. The balcony runs across the bedroom front rather than sitting small at its south-west corner. The fire pit is mid-terrace rather than at the kitchen end by the outdoor kitchen.

← the floorWoods End/buildings·if / 072

House, ground floor

551 m²: one 23 m room of kitchen, dining and living behind the west glass, the den at the gate end, the cinema at the stone end, and a gallery along the drive side.

The card

buildings 02 of 05

House, ground floor

buildings 02 of 05idea_072

The notes

rendered

The ground floor is 551 m² inside: 451 m² in the main body and 100 m² in the wing. The main house is set back 10 m from the front of the wing, behind the walled front garden.

one long back wall of glass

Kitchen, dining and living run along the back in one 23 m space facing the view. The double-sided wood fire, a freestanding 3 m limestone block with about 1.75 m to walk past on each side, splits dining from living without a wall.

Steel goalpost frames carry the glass, so there are no posts in the way. Slatted thermo-ash screens slide on tracks outside the glass to cut low summer sun, and stack at the ends when you want the full view.

terrace and outdoor kitchen

A level limestone terrace, 5 m deep, runs the full 31 m of the glass wall before the land drops away. At the kitchen end is a covered outdoor kitchen with a grill, and a fire pit for evenings facing the sunset.

den at the gate end

The office and games den fills the gate end. Its west side is the big glass wall onto the view, where the desk sits. The end wall facing the gate is timber over render with three tall narrow windows, so it stays calm and private from the gate. The sim rig and bar sit on the inner wall, with a games table by the gate windows.

cinema

The cinema sits inside the main two-storey house at the south end. Only the end wall is limestone. Its floor is about 0.7 m below the rest of the ground floor, reached by steps from the lobby, which gives 3.4 m inside under the bedroom above. It is built as a sealed box-in-box room on rubber mounts, so no sound reaches the bedroom.

On the west side the cinema has no windows, so the limestone of the end wall wraps round the corner and runs the 10 m length of the cinema, as a solid stone base under the bedroom balcony.

The lobby has a small bar, with a stone-walled wine room and a small AV room behind it. The AV room holds the projector kit, the servers and the security hub.

walled front garden

A quiet lawn of about 10 by 31 m with one multi-stem tree and a stone path to the front door. Visitors use an oak door in the wall lined up with the front door, with a video intercom. You can also come in through a door at the wing corner, under the carport roof, so you stay dry from car to garden. The gallery windows and the snug look onto it.

gallery on the drive side

A 1.2 m gallery runs the length of the front, from the den door to the cinema lobby, with windows onto the drive. The front door, stair, pantry, WC, house plant room and snug all open off it, so nobody has to walk through the kitchen or living space to reach the den or the cinema. The guest stair and utility join it at the gate end.

The covered log store sits outside against the plant room stretch, so the gallery glass runs only where it looks onto the garden. The shopping route runs from the carport through the utility, along the gallery and into the pantry and kitchen.

rooms

Space Area Note
Office + games den 88 m² One room, two outlooks
Kitchen 59 m² Serious cook, big island
Dining + fireplace 49 m² Fire on one side
Living + snug 62 m² Fire on the other side
Cinema 70 m² 10 seats: 5 recliners, raised sofa behind, 4.5 m screen
Cinema lobby, wine room, AV room 40 m² Lobby 18, wine 12, AV 10
Gallery, hall, pantry, WC, house plant 83 m² Drive side
Garage 42 m² 2 daily cars, plus a 72 m² open carport
Boot room, utility, guest stair 58 m² 23, 21 and 14
Ground floor 551 m² Main body 451, wing 100

The drawings

1 sheet
House ground floor plan, sheet A-101 rev AB, scale bar in metres, with the long view west at the top and the drive side at the bottom. Along the west glass, from left to right: the cinema for 10, 70 m², with its floor 0.7 m down, a 4.5 m screen, five recliners and a raised sofa; living, 42 m²; the double-sided wood fire; dining, 42 m²; kitchen, 58 m²; and the office and games den, 88 m², at the gate end with its desk, sim rig, bar, games table and three tall narrow windows. Outside is the 5 m limestone terrace with a fire pit, the covered outdoor kitchen and grill, and sliding thermo-ash screens along the glass. Behind, along a 1.2 m gallery on the drive side, are the AV room, wine room, cinema lobby and bar, snug, house plant room with cylinder and MVHR, the lift, entrance hall and stair, WC and coats, and walk-in pantry. The wing to the right holds the guest stair, boot room, utility and laundry, and a 42 m² garage for two daily cars, with a 72 m² carport drop-off in front of its gable. The walled garden, with a 2.4 m limestone wall, one multi-stem tree, a log store and an oak garden door with intercom, fills the space in front of the house. A dashed line traces the shopping route from carport to utility, gallery, pantry and kitchen.
01 · House ground floor plan

The plates

2 · lift any one out
The west side at sunset, from the meadow below and to the south-west, with the sun setting over a wide valley on the left. A long two-storey house under a single steep black standing seam roof with one chimney, the upper floor timber-clad between long runs of glass, lit warm from inside. On the ground floor a limestone terrace runs along the glass with a dining table and grill under a black steel pergola at the left end and a round fire pit burning in the middle. A panel of vertical timber slats stands in front of part of the ground floor glass. The right-hand end is coursed pale limestone on both floors, with a glass balcony across the upper floor and a tall lit window in the stone below it. Long grass in the foreground. Off brief: the den at the left end should be one vaulted room with no floor above, but the render runs the upper floor and its glass right through it. The cinema should have no windows on the west side, with the limestone running solid along its 10 m length, but the render puts a tall lit window into the stone base. The stone also climbs the upper floor round the bedroom, where the drawings have only the end wall and the cinema base in limestone. A bed shows through the glass mid-way along the upper floor, where the drawings have the upstairs lounge and covered terrace. The balcony runs across the bedroom front rather than sitting small at its south-west corner. The fire pit is mid-terrace rather than at the kitchen end by the outdoor kitchen.
01 · The west side at sunset
The walled front garden on an overcast autumn day, looking along the lawn. On the left, a tall pale limestone wall with an oak door in it and ferns at its foot runs away to a cross wall at the far end. On the right, the drive-side face of the house: vertical timber cladding with small black-framed windows on the upper floor, a dark charcoal render base, a tall dark oak front door in a black frame, a timber-framed log store stacked with split logs, and beyond it a run of floor-to-ceiling glass with a lit room behind. A multi-stem birch grows from the middle of the lawn, and a pale stone path runs along the house to the front door. Off brief: the drawings line the oak door in the wall up with the front door, with the stone path running straight across the lawn between them. Here the wall door is in the foreground and the path runs diagonally along the house. The drawings also put gallery windows between the front door and the wing, and the render shows solid render there.
02 · The walled front garden on an overcast autumn day