The Nook is a new-build four bedroom family house set in a secluded valley in Monmouthshire. Planning permission for this 250m2 home was secured to replace a drab 1960?s bungalow that had previously occupied a corner of the 1 acre Wye Valley site.

The aim of the project was to establish a durable and flexible home that capitalized on the best qualities of its setting. The plot?s fundamental appeal lay in its combination of attractive rural surroundings combined with good year-round solar exposure.

The construction budget was not overly generous at £325,000 (including kitchen and built-in furniture) equating to £1,300 per m2. A separate outbuilding, providing a carport and garden storage, was allocated a £25,000 budget.

The design adopts the simple, confident massing evident in the region?s agricultural structures, where both traditional stone barns and the spare steel-framed modern structures now used by farmers tend to possess a visual clarity and generosity of scale absent from most rural dwellings. A rectangular floor plan provided efficiency, flexibility, and economy. The adoption of a steel frame enabled significant spans to cater for large openings in the building elevation and allowed the structural flexibility to omit floor sections and thereby create expansive and playful spaces within the interior.
The privacy of the house?s rural location enables generous areas of glazing to be employed, illuminating the living spaces with natural light as well as framing ...