Fearh Cottage
Client:
Private
Year:
2022
Porter Robson was appointed to design a new replacement dwelling on Winchester Street in Botley, creating a contemporary family home that responds to the scale, materials and architectural character of its established village setting.
The design is conceived as a collection of simple pitched volumes connected by lower linking elements, breaking the house into a series of recognisable domestic forms rather than presenting a single large mass.
The concept studies show how these elements are separated, shifted and connected to create a more informal composition that responds to the shape of the site and the character of neighbouring buildings.
The material palette is drawn directly from the local context. Brick, white render, vertical timber cladding, slate and glass are used across the different elements of the house, allowing each volume to have its own character while remaining part of a coherent whole.
The principal accommodation is arranged largely at ground-floor level around a generous central kitchen, dining and entrance space. More private bedroom accommodation occupies one part of the plan, while a drawing room, games room, gym and outdoor living space extend towards the garden. A separate garage, utility and supporting spaces are integrated into the wider composition rather than treated as secondary additions.
The relationship with the garden is fundamental to the design. Large glazed openings connect the principal living spaces with terraces and landscaped areas, while the garden elevation becomes more open and expressive than the approach elevation. The glazed gable gives the principal living volume a strong visual connection with the landscape and allows light to extend deep into the interior.
Internally, the pitched forms create opportunities for vaulted ceilings and increased volume, giving the main spaces a sense of luxury.
Environmental performance is embedded within the architecture through a Passivhaus-led, fabric-first approach. High levels of insulation, exceptional airtightness and carefully detailed junctions minimise heat loss and thermal bridging, while high-performance glazing and controlled solar gain support year-round comfort. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery provides a continuous supply of fresh air while retaining heat within the building. Integrated photovoltaic panels are incorporated discreetly within the principal pitched roofs, complementing the reduced energy demand of the house, while a planted green roof enhances biodiversity and contributes to the environmental performance of the lower volume.
The site strategy also retains elements of the established boundary structure and landscape while reorganising the dwelling, approach, parking and garden as a more coherent whole. The new house occupies broadly the established developed part of the plot but creates a significantly more considered relationship between building and landscape.
Fearh Cottage demonstrates how traditional forms can be reinterpreted rather than reproduced, using familiar pitched roofs, brick, render and timber to create a distinctly contemporary home rooted in the character of Botley.
