This proposal is for a new house in open countryside on the edge of the village of Knodishall in Suffolk. Consent had previously been granted under Paragraph 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework for a house on the site, but when costed this ambitious project proved to be five times the clients’ budget. Project Orange was therefore approached with a revised brief for a compact house of only 85m2 with associated stables for the clients’ horses and a workshop for the restoration of vintage vehicles. The budget was £300,000.

Our solution was to use the construction technology associated with simple agricultural buildings – steel frame and corrugated metal with rammed earth for insulating walls to the residential accommodation. The components of the brief – house, stables and workshop – were distributed in a pinwheel fashion around an open covered courtyard where horses, people and vintage cars could come together.