GRAND GUIDE Ten homes that

2TRIANGULAR PLOT Three Piece House is a project by Sydney architecture firm Trias in the harbour city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was built for a couple looking to downsize. Due to planning rules regarding flood control, the three-bedroom home sits on a brick plinth, rather than being raised up on stilts, giving it a more solid presence in its suburban setting. The earthy red colour of the plinth was chosen to echo the tones of the recycled brick pavers.

As the name suggests, the house is in three parts, each of which are skewed to follow the boundaries of the triangular plot. One part includes living spaces, another the bedrooms and these are bridged by a corridor. There’s a separate one- bedroom studio apartment. Courtyards and gardens thread between the buildings, with a southern porch designed as a place for neighbours to stop and chat, plus a more private northern courtyard. The project cost around £2,535 per sqm. (trias.com.au)

3BUSHFIRE RISK Surrounded by gum trees in Brisbane, Australia, Mt CootTha House was designed by architecture practice Nielsen Jenkins for the sister of its co-founder and director Morgan Jenkins. The house is next to their childhood home.

Because of the plot’s susceptibility to bushfires and steep gradient, the firm designed a single-storey building that steps down various levels. The blockwork walls and corrugated metal roofs were specified to meet building standards for fire protection, while the hard surfaces and angular shapes are softened by planting.

The levels are linked via a central staircase and sets of meandering stairs. Picture windows capture views of the trees and the landscape, and the internal spaces spill out onto courtyards at the side. The 292sqm, three-bedroom house cost around £2,342 per sqm. (nielsenjenkins.com)

The blockwork walls and corrugated metal roofs were specified to meet building standards for fire protection, while the hard surfaces are softened by planting

4SMART GEOMETRY This contemporary house in New Cross, south London, was designed by architecture practice Selencky Parsons in the tight space where an old coach house once stood.

The new 3.4m-wide building is narrow at the front, but it follows an L-shaped layout, wrapping around the house next door and opening up to a generous single-storey living space at the rear. The neighbouring property, now split into three flats, has a small courtyard garden, maximising the site’s potential by using every bit of space.

The four-bedroom house has a bold, contemporary look that includes full-height glazing and deep overhangs between each floor. (selenckyparsons.com)

CLEVER PLANNING To gain permission

5to build a home on a greenbelt site in Cookham, Berkshire, architecture practice Spratley & Partners took a piecemeal approach to planning. It initially proposed a small outbuilding, followed by a basement and first floor. Further extensions were completed under permitted development (PD).

The design was inspired by agricultural buildings, especially the pitched zinc-covered roof and pre-weathered burnt timber exterior, and this helps it complement the rural setting.

Built for a couple with four grown-up children, the main body of the three-bedroom house contains a living room, dining area and kitchen, snug and boot room, with a cinema, plant room and store room in the basement. From a cantilevered wing, the main bedroom looks out over the garden that wraps around the house. It cost around £900,000. (spratley-partners.uk)

6A TAPERED FOOTPRINT Built for £300,000 (excluding fees) for a mother and her grown-up daughter, this two-bedroom, 90sqm home in Forest Hill, south-east London, makes the most of its wedgeshaped plot.

Studio Bam!’s design has a triangular footprint that skirts the perimeter of the site, tapering from 7m wide at the back to 2m at the front.

A triangular courtyard sits at the heart of the house, letting light into the ground-floor bedroom and the open-plan kitchen and living space. Another bedroom and a bathroom are reached via a winding set of stairs.

To keep costs down, the interiors have a limited materials palette including whitewashed spruce, pale terrazzo, birch plywood and exposed steel. (studio-bam.com)

7ON A STEEP SLOPE Tim Wernham of Constructive Architecture built this threebedroom house in Wellington, New Zealand, for himself, his partner Tara and daughter Sadie. Standing on a hill with an average incline of 40 degrees, it appears to defy gravity. The shape was dictated by strict planning rules about height and access to daylight – rules that weren’t originally envisaged for steep slopes – so it took a while for the planners to agree on its design.

Access is via tight, winding roads, so the couple had to find a specialist company with a particularly small digger to carry out the groundworks. All the materials, including the timber frames, arrived on a trailer and were carried inside for assembly.

As a reward for all their hard work, the family can now enjoy views out over the bush canopy from the cosy, timber-filled interior. Tim estimates that a similar home would cost around £2,825 per sqm. (constructivearchitecture.co.nz)

FLOOD PROTECTION Sitting on the banks of

8the river Loddon in Wargrave, Berkshire, the three-bedroom Narula House by John Pardey Architects was built for a couple. It was designed to withstand a worst-case scenario flood depth of 1.17m, plus rising water levels due to climate change. Putting a house on stilts is an age-old solution, but here it’s done in a strikingly contemporary way.

In contrast to the meandering Loddon, the 330sqm home is linear and angular, standing 2.2m above the water. It is built from steel on piled foundations, with access via open-tread staircases at the front and back. The elevation also gives wonderful views over the river, both from inside the house and from the sheltered glass-balustraded balcony that runs the length of the living space. The build cost was £2 million. (johnpardeyarchitects.com)

NARROW 10 BUILD This family home in mid-town Toronto, Canada, slots into a space between two houses where a garage had been.

Rather than copying its red-brick Victorian neighbours, the 3.96m-wide, two-bedroom house has a timber and rendered façade, yet it respects the scale, height and glazing of other properties in the street. Designed by Drew Mandel

Architects for Drew and his wife

Denise, the house occupies a space so tight that, once the steel frame was in place, lightweight building materials were delivered by hand, effectively building it from the inside out.

The layout is dictated by the availability of light, with the bathrooms in the centre of the house and the living spaces at the front and back. To make up for the narrow width, the design focuses on the three-storey home’s soaring dimensions, with a double- height space above the kitchen bringing in light via glazing in the roof and pivoting glazed doors at the front and rear. The project cost around £3,390 per sqm. (drewmandelarchitects.com) 9 BELOW GROUND Built for a musician and his wife on a modest plot at the end of a garden near Victoria Park, east London, this two-bedroom, 40sqm house was designed by architecture practice Kennedytwaddle to make clever use of concrete.

The small front exterior belies a much larger interior because the basement extends under the garden, with lightwells at the front and rear bringing in daylight. Below ground, the concrete was cast in situ, retaining its tactile board markings. Above ground, there are prefabricated panels with slim depths, which help to maximise the amount of internal space.

The exterior concrete gets progressively more refined higher up, a tradition borrowed from classical architecture. Inside, joinery made from birch plywood, including open-tread staircases that help to distribute the light, combine craftsmanship and simplicity. (kennedytwaddle.com)

N E W O U TLO O K

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The owners of a traditional detached house in Surrey wanted to update its appearance. They hoped to replace the timber windows and doors, as well as upgrade an old conservatory to include a pitched roof extension with an openplan kitchen and dining area connected to the rear garden. The couple visited Express Bi-folding Doors’ Surrey showroom in Redhill to explore its products and discuss their project with the experienced sales team.

They chose the aluminium scenic casement windows, which have superb thermal performance. The contemporary look continues with a Caverro front door, which provides an inviting entrance

ABOVE Express updated this house in Surrey with aluminium scenic casement windows and a Caverro front door LEFT At the rear of the house is a bespoke combination of single, French and XP View bi-folding doors ABOVE Express provided bespoke glazing solutions for this home near Huddersfield BELOW The Oriel bay window in the dining area is a peaceful place to sit

to the house. Towards the back of the property, the company installed a bespoke combination of single, French and XP View bi-folding doors to bring the couple’s vision to life. Finally, it added hi-tech electronically operated integral blinds, which are perfect for bi-folding doors as they fold away and don’t require cleaning. After buying a plot near Huddersfield, another couple visited Express Bi-folding Doors’ f lagship Leeds showroom, hoping to build their dream home from scratch. Their plans included full-height glazing at the back of the house and f lexible open-plan spaces. The company provided its expertise throughout the buying process, and an inhouse surveyor worked with the contractors to ensure the build went smoothly. The XP View bi-folding doors create a seamless transition from inside to out, bringing in the maximum amount of light and garden views from the open-plan kitchen, dining area and living room. A stunning oriel window sits between the two bi-folding doors.

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