Chestnut farm – UK
Chestnut farm is located in New Forest National Park, Hampshire , United Kingdom. The house is designed to enhance the well-being of the owners by creating a direct relationship with the landscape as you move through the building. The building is highly insulated and its orientation is maximised to benefit from solar gain.
Positioned above the landscape requiring no concrete in construction, the house can be easily removed from the site (and even placed elsewhere) leaving little trace. Which complies with the Caravan Act 1968 but has little feeling of a ‘traditional mobile home’. The act is restrictive in size and required the building to be constructed off site and craned into position.
PAD studio was responsible for designing a series of buildings and landscape interventions on the site; the main house, working stables, workshop as well as a vegetable garden and outdoor kitchen. The location of each was carefully planned to foster and enliven links and dialogue between the structures whilst also taking advantage of the site to create both intimate and expansive views from the home. The design of the whole project was considered holistically, materials and finishes share in unity to further improve the cohesion between the units.
The strategy for the house was to create a contemporary, low lying building crafted from local natural materials to help the building harmonise with this beautiful location whilst minimising the impact of the dwelling on its surroundings. The home is clad in UK Sweet Chestnut, which in time weathers to a beautiful silver hue – the verticality of the timber echoing the surrounding Chestnut tree woodland.
The building has been designed to be flexible and future proof; each of the rectangular forms which create the home can work as part of one integrated home connected by the walkway, or as two independent dwellings each containing a kitchen, bedrooms and living space. The western form houses the main living spaces and enjoys a generous open plan kitchen/living room with a full glazed wall at one end.
The eastern building is predominately designed to house the main bedrooms but also incorporates a kitchenette and snug living room space. The master bedroom is located at the southern end of the unit, again enjoying full height picture windows and direct access to the secluded decked terrace. Warmer colours, copper details and polished plaster wall finishes create a more intimate feeling to the interior.
