One lot, two homes: 200

Architect son sets out to prove to his parents that "sustainable can be sexy"

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When his parents told him they wanted to build a comfortable, modern home for their retirement, London architect Sam Cooper jumped at the chance to help. “They’d always bought and restored historic buildings,” Cooper says. “In fact, the home they were living in and where I spent my teenage years was a listed Georgian house.” After spending a great deal of time researching and looking at properties, they finally decided to build the house on the same site as that period home. Cooper designed them a beautiful, practical and energy-efficient home that became his manifesto project to prove that “sustainable could be sexy.”

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[np_storybar title=”” link=””]Amanda Pollard is a Houzz contributor.

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This zero-carbon split-level building has given Cooper’s parents a comfortable and easy life, with lower bills and features to see them through their retirement. “We’ve already designed for [an elevator] in the building,” he says. “My parents genuinely love it, and I was really touched recently when I asked my mum what she would change and her answer was ‘Nothing’.”

The house is built on a sloping site with an incline of 10 feet. Rough Purbeck limestone appears to rise out of the ground and mirrors other stones in the surrounding garden.

“It’s a building of contrasts,” Cooper says. “While the lower ground floor is textured and earthy, the upper levels are crisp and monochrome.” Similarly, the walls of the lower level are solid with sections of glass, while the upper floor is the opposite: panels of glass dotted with a few solid walls.

“We searched other areas for a site, but nothing was suitable,” Cooper says. “My parents initially dismissed the idea of building a new home here, as they were passionate about the listed building they’d helped to restore.”

The site was also full of trees, which would have made it difficult to build on, but when an old tree in the centre of the grounds became diseased and had to be removed, it freed up some space.

However, it was important the building fit within the space and didn’t overshadow the original Georgian house. The split-level property uses the slope to keep it at a low level. It is made of two single el shapes that interlock.

Cooper had accumulated a lot of knowledge about the new house’s site over the years and combined this with computer modelling technology to map where each part of it should go. The terrace, for example, gets the most sunshine in summer and plenty of breeze as well.

The building is designed to be comfortable all year round. To the east of the property is a woodland, which is the coolest part of the site. “They can make the most of this by opening the windows at this spot and pulling in the cool air,” Cooper says. “At the same time, they can open the roof [sky]lights to let out hot air.”

The full-height sliding doors on the terrace are triple-paned. They’re framed above by a fixed-louvre awning, known as brise-soleil, which shields the glass from high summer sun and allows low winter sun to shine in.

“The white horizontal lines of the brise-soleil continue the theme of contrasts,” the architect says. “They are the direct opposite of the black timber vertical panels.”

The black panelling is made from sweet chestnut and treated with a breathable black stain. “The sweet chestnut is a British hardwood that’s very durable,” Cooper says.

“We originally designed sliding roller shutters to slide back against the (wood) when the sun was too strong,” Cooper says, “but in fact we haven’t needed them at all.”

The house uses the Passivhaus system, with enough insulation, air tightness and solar gains to require no extra heating or air conditioning. It has been awarded the high environmental accreditation of Code 5, which means it produces as much energy as it uses.

The lawn insulates the roof of the bedrooms below, and the glass walk-on roof light runs above the hallway corridor.

A post holds up the roof and is made from a concrete that contains a high amount of recycled material. The concrete has been left exposed so it can provide thermal mass to help regulate the internal climate. The surface sucks in the heat, stores it and then releases it slowly.

LED lights have been installed throughout to reduce the demand on energy. They are controlled centrally from a home-management system, which makes the house more efficient.

For example, an attached weather station knows how bright it is outside and also senses if anyone’s in the room. The owners can control the system remotely from their phones and turn the whole house off when they leave. “With a system like this, you probably save an extra 5 per cent or 10 per cent in energy use,” Cooper says.

The kitchen sits at the heart of the house and is white with a yellow accent. The pocket doors that cover two recessed areas slide open and back into the cabinets. The recesses are for the untidy work of food preparation and washing-up, so if the couple is having a dinner party, they can easily slide the doors shut to hide the mess. It’s a clever idea for an open-plan space like this.

The kitchen island is covered with Corian and houses lacquered, electric touch-operated drawers. The breakfast bar is cast of the same concrete that was used for the pillar. The kitchen designer made a negative formwork cast over the unit, and the builder poured in concrete. “It was a nerve-wracking moment for the builder,” Cooper recalls, “because he had to get it right the first time.”

The deep purple of the master bedroom contrasts sharply with the bright white walls in the living areas. The feature wall here is a polished lime plaster with marble pigments, which have been sponged on to create a beautiful soft finish.

“All the walls in the house are breathable and finished with lime products,” Cooper says. “They help to regulate the moisture content and also suck up a lot of internal air pollutants.”

All the bedrooms are fitted with 100 per cent British wool carpets, but as the building is fully insulated, this was a personal choice rather than a necessity. Cooper designed the space as a blank canvas on which his interior designer mother could put her own stamp. “We often design our buildings like this, so that our clients can create their own interior,” the architect says.

The bath in the master bedroom has a glass door at the foot. A very old yew tree sits directly outside, so whoever is in the bath can lie back and gaze at its dark branches. Each window of the building has been deliberately placed to frame its own distinct view.

The seating area in the open-plan living space is located next to a glazed bridge that crosses the corridor below. Roof windows flood light into the back of the room.

The yellow chair sits at the spot that gets the most sunlight all year round.

A corridor leads from the front door to the staircase. The cement wall is holding back the ground behind it and natural light shines down from the walk-on roof light above.

To the right of the solid-oak front door is a ventilation panel. A stainless-steel woven mesh in front of it allows it to be left open securely, so air can flow along the corridor and cool the house. “The building is super-insulated to heat it in the winter, so as a consequence, you need to think about ventilation in the summer,” Cooper explains.

The staircase at the end of the corridor consists of a steel structure and a glass balustrade. The solid-oak treads are treated with a natural oil and dark stain.

The stairs lead up to a half landing with a view of an old oak tree, then back around to glimpse the sun terrace. You then turn again to get another view of the building. “It’s hard to see in photographs,” Cooper says, “but the house has been designed in a way that allows people to take a pleasant promenade through it.”

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