Grand Designs: Berkshire, The Cruciform House

Date Published:: 12/06/2008

When Rupert and Julie bought a hilltop site in the Berkshire Downs, they were determined to build a house that would make the most of the countryside and stunning views.

They turned to architecture firm Roderick James, which specialises in modern design and traditional timber craftsmanship. Together with architect Hugh McGann, they came up with a house of green oak and glass, built in an unusual cruciform (cross) shape.

Aerial View Of House, Berkshire: The Cruciform House

The cruciform design meant that the house commanded views in every direction. It also created wind-breaks and areas of shelter on an exposed site. The house would have a timber frame, with 16 elevations and a double-height central space where all four wings connected. On the ground floor, this would be occupied by the kitchen. Above it, four bedrooms would open off a galleried landing.

The Ball Park

The foundations were dug while the budget was still 'in ball park terms', as Rupert, the owner of a courier company, put it.

Immediately they ran into difficulties, as the quote for the handmade timber frame came back at £92,000, far higher than the £65,000 they had allowed. They decided to build the utility wing (housing utility room, boot room and toilets) from masonry clad in wood, saving £13,000.

The frame took longer than expected to make. Hugh McGann modified his drawings daily and simplified the complex central section.

Mezzanine, Berkshire: The Cruciform House, Grand Designs

Once completed, the frame was speedily erected, the roof and floor were built and windows were fitted. As these last made up half of the entire wall space, toughened glass was used - four times stronger than normal window glass. Flexible rubber tape was used to fuse glass and oak together - because green oak moves, the join between frame and glass could not be static.

Stunning Expanse Of Glass

The house was finished two years after the project began. Externally it has an American look, with New England wood cladding and stunning expanses of glass.

It is different from every angle - imposing from the front, nestling into the higher ground at the back. Inside, open-plan spaces divided by oak columns echo the natural world outside. At the same time, pitched ceilings and thick beams give the architecture a reassuring solidity.

The Detail

Oak beams and windows frame the countryside, surrounding each room with a series of views. Windows are different sizes and shapes, as dictated by the timbers. Wherever you stand in the house, you catch unexpected glimpses of landscape.
All four wings of the house lead to the central octagonal kitchen. The hand-made wooden units are painted gleaming white; the Aga is black, and the surfaces are black and white polished stone. The kitchen sits like a hub at the centre of the open-plan ground floor.
Oak columns break up the ground floor, creating different rooms with their individual characters. The wood columns also provide a connection with the landscape outside while bringing warmth to the interior.
Walls between timbers are painted, primarily white, to accentuate the airiness of the design. In individual rooms, walls are painted stronger colours - pink in the girl's bedroom, intense blue in the boy's.
Natural wood finishes predominate - on floors, banisters and stairs. Some of the key pieces of furniture on the ground floor - a dresser, a large chest, a desk - are also of unpainted wood, simply designed.
In the sitting room, the fireplace and lofty oak ceiling bring a touch of the medieval great hall to the modern space.

How Green?

Requiring 85 mature oaks for its timber frame, the Berkshire house was hardly light on natural resources.

Kitchen, Berkshire: The Cruciform House, Grand Designs

But oak, like soft wood, is a managed wood product, and all the trees used were due to be felled as part of correct woodland management and forest thinning to allow growth of the saplings.

Timber of any kind is a sustainable product, provided that it is replaced with saplings planted in properly managed woodland.

As they grow, they absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2), an important point when you consider that the alternatives to timber construction are materials such as concrete and steel, which actually produce vast quantities of CO2.