The Project
Christine Benjamin and her husband Peter currently live in an Edwardian manor house called Medland Manor. Both in their 60s, the manor is getting to be too large for them, so they've decided to build themselves something smaller.
Despite the manor's traditional style, Peter and Christine felt strongly that their new building should embrace modern design whilst remaining sensitive to its site. So they came up with a house that is part traditional timber frame cottage, part modern glass pavilion.
The new house has been built within the grounds of their current manor house in a beautiful one-acre walled garden. Unusually, it's split into two halves - one on each side of the garden wall. The half outside the garden wall is a Victorian coach house that has become the entrance to the new house and contains two bedrooms, utility room and toilet. It has retained its traditional style to match the rest of the outbuildings around it, using timber frame, clapboarding and tiles.
The other half, inside the walled garden, is a modern glass pavilion. The privacy of the walled garden has allowed Peter and Christine to plan a house made almost entirely of glass. It's a nod to both Modernist glass pavilion houses designed by Mies van Der Rohe and Philip Johnson, and Victorian greenhouses found in walled gardens. Using a steel frame construction, the dining and living room areas are all open-plan, separated by a sliding glass door. Here too are two main bedrooms and a study.
Budget And Build
Estimated budget: £220,000
Final budget: Approximately £235,000
Peter and Christine financed the project by re-mortgaging their current house and selling their shares. Their three children, two of whom will eventually take over the manor house, are also contributing to the build.
Peter's distinctly hands-on design and project management style, along with the couple's willingness to compromise, kept the house largely on target.
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