BREAKING NEW GROUND

Introducing a RIBA-chartered practice specialising in contemporary Cornish architecture with respect for people, place and planet

Angus Webster Architects (AWA) offers high quality design and is located right in the heart of Rock and Polzeath. Owner and lead architect, Angus Webster has extensive experience in the industry, both nationally and internationally having worked with some of the biggest names in architecture; including seven years at the twice Stirling Prize nominated Heneghan Peng Architects in Dublin. Nominated for Build-It Magazine’s best self-build architect in 2019, he started up AWA in 2020 and brings this big-team, international design background to his own work, while working sensitively within the Cornish context.

“I love the hands-on approach you have when working closely with residential clients. As a residential architect, you carry a heavy responsibility, dealing with people’s dreams and aspirations as well as their life savings. This isn’t a responsibility that I take lightly and I make sure to keep up a constant dialogue and communication with my clients throughout the process, at each stage of design, working together to deliver them the best home possible and removing as much stress as I can during the journey,” says Angus.

For AWA, design is a process. “When we start a new project,” explains Angus, “we don’t know exactly where it will go, or how it will develop. We typically investigate a site and the surroundings, trying to figure out constraints and opportunities. We also take a close look at the client’s brief which we help to develop through continuous dialogue, and lots of listening. The brief gradually evolves and the client’s unique way of living is reflected in the finished building. There isn’t an in-house style as each site and project is so different.”

AWA projects do however, celebrate locally sourced and natural materials. “We are focussed on improving the sustainability of our projects wherever possible. We follow a fabric-first approach to building, concentrating our energy on getting the structure and built form of the building correct, increasing levels of insulation, airtightness and passive solar gain, whilst also promoting the use of low-carbon heating systems such as air and ground source heat pumps as well as solar thermal and solar PV panels,” adds Angus.

“We use low-carbon, low-energy, natural materials where possible and source the materials, as well as the craftspeople we use, locally in a bid to sculpt homes for the future that settle comfortably into their surroundings. We pay special attention to regionality and local vernacular building, gaining inspiration from the wild and spectacular setting in which we work, using quality materials, chosen to settle into the local context and weather gracefully over time.” By following this ethos the result is contemporary residential architecture with a strong sense of place.

Careful use of textures and materials, with special attention given to detailing, can be seen in the likes of The Nook, a small property where AWA worked with local craftspeople to create textured and tactile finishes which flow throughout.

Another current project includes a reconsideration of a country property as a workstead. This new interpretation of an old farmstead, takes many of its cues from the simple local vernacular, but reinterpreted in a contemporary way, with a refined palette of appropriate materials, elevated through fine construction detailing. Another is currently in the detailed construction documentation stage, and involves the rebirth of an old Georgian farmhouse buried in the woods and unoccupied for 30 years.

“Together with the client, we are breathing life into the house, restoring the old structure with natural breathable materials, and extending with a sympathetic new extension lightly connected to the old building through a new glass link space,” says Angus. “The upper level of the extension will be clad in waney edged timber boarding to help it settle into its woodland setting and this will weather down to a beautiful aged patina over time. The lower levels will be clad in reclaimed local Cornish stone to match the old house, creating a pared back palette of materials.”

AWA are working alongside a fantastic landscape architect on this project to help bring the wider landscape back into use, creating biodiversity enhancements and sanctuaries for wildlife within the wider valley. The house itself will have the loft space given back to the 60 pairs of breeding bats that currently call the house home! “We always try to consider biodiversity within our projects where we can, reducing the loss of trees and green areas and incorporating spaces for animals within the new buildings, such as bee bricks, swallow roosts and bat boxes.” www.anguswebsterarchitects.com(new website coming soon)

A third project is the reimagination of an historic fisherman’s cottage in Padstow. By creating new connections to the outside spaces and flipping the ground and first floors to open up the living spaces to the upper level garden, the property has been transformed. Some previous modern additions are being removed and the house will be stripped back to its historic fabric. Any new insertions will be clearly of their time, such as the twostory glazed corner that will replace an old block work wall, bringing light down into a deep courtyard space, breathing new life into the whole house. Even here, in a walled townhouse setting, Angus is keen to make the most of the outside space by creating a private external room which will be bathed in sunlight for much of the day and provide a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of the town.

@anguswebsterarchitects sales@johnbrayestates.co.uk | 01208 862601 | johnbrayestates.co.uk

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