Rural monopitch house west dorset extensions

Transformative Architecture

Coppet Hill, West Dorset

Coppet house is nestled into the hill looking north across rolling fields of the Marshwood Vale.

The original bungalow was slightly unusual with shallow monopitch roofs, split floor level and long rectangular plan aligned with the topography of the site, all which help it feel very much a part of the hillside. We wanted to take these characteristics forward in the new design and really celebrate the northern views while updating the house overall to make an exciting new home.

The monopitch forms of this house have been retained, and celebrated with a new central window seat that pops up above the roofline to offer an unusual portrait view of the skies above the landscape.

Vaulting the ceilings and removing the internal dividing walls has transformed the tiny rooms into a free-flowing, light filled space, connected to those framed views of the rural landscape to keep it grounded in its setting. New metal roofs transform the modest bungalow into an exciting house of our time.

The brief was also to upgrade the appearance and performance of the house, making sustainable choices where possible. The new walls are timber frame, infilled with innovative UK-produced hemp fibre insulation and overboarded with woodfibre insulation and then cork plaster and render. This breathable wall buildup uses natural non-toxic materials, and is highly insulative, so will improve indoor air quality and thermal comfort, making this a much more eco friendly building material choice. This coupled with the air source heat pump, solar PVs and underfloor heating will make this an extremely energy efficient building to run.