Ty-Hedfan Residence by Featherstone Young

Architects: Featherstone Young
Location: Brecon Beacons National Park, South Wales
Year: 2010
Area: 2,400 sqft
Photo courtesy: Tim Brotherton and Featherstone Young
Description:

The Site and Local Distinctiveness

The site is entirely one of a kind, slanting down to the intersection of two streams, Ysgir Fach and Ysgir Fawr, that keep running over the full length of the property. It is in the focal point of a little villa, Pontfaen, which is simply outside the Brecon Beacons national park. The site was adequately brownfield as generally it housed a light mechanical premises, despite the fact that this had long been cleared leaving little confirmation of its past life other than some little demolishes and a plant race. The waterway and bank is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and was, and still is, totally wild and undeveloped with various full grown oak, fiery remains and beech trees.

Multifaceted nature of the Brief and our Design Approach

Ty-Hedfan, signifying ‘floating (flying) house’, specifically reacts to the complexities offered by the site. There are two chief limitations, which we transformed into circumstances – the steeply slanting geology and the no construct zone which incorporated all area inside 7m of the waterway. One wing of the building begins off in an apparently clear way however then continues to cantilever over the stream bank and in amongst the trees, getting to be lighter and more transparent “floating” over the waterway. The other wing of the building is sunk into the slant of the site, with a green rooftop over, and full tallness coating watching out over a decked riverside yard. Sporadic molded rooflights over this wing drop additional light into this territory and are nitty gritty as wooden cows troughs in a field.

Other brief complexities were the introduction of the site and nearness of abutting neighbors. North is towards the stream whilst south is towards the perspective of abutting properties that we needed to give screening from. This test we met through top lit twofold tallness spaces over the principle kitchen, patio and passageway corridor acquiring backhanded south light to the heart of the house. Windows do intersperse the south-bound viewpoint however they are littler and particular encircling particular perspectives of the slopes and garden and removing neighbors properties.

Social limitations incorporate the dichotomy of making a close viable house for a group of three, whilst additionally having the capacity to suit bigger quantities of individuals when family and companions visit this appealing country escape. The two wing outline approach which, from one viewpoint created, from the site limitations, additionally reacts to these social needs giving an auxiliary visitor wing which can be cut off and not warmed when just the quick family is available.

Materials

The material palette takes as its signal from the neighborhood vernacular setting, however then points of interest these materials in a more bizarre way. The cantilevered wing is a fresh slate clad box with shrouded guttering and faceted pitched rooftop which bit by bit changes into a hardwood confined glass lounge room hung over the waterway. Two screen dividers in nearby drystone relax the hard geometric slate structure, yet then get to be solid 9m high elements from the waterway side which have a viable advantage by keeping disregarding from the higher neighboring properties. With a specific end goal to help the underside of the building, the whole soffit of the underside of the lounge is reflected.

Inside, the completions take after from the outside treatment however are given a gentler edge as you move further into the building. The triple tallness passage is dealt with very nearly as a semi outer space, with slate floor, drystone dividers and a cantilevered steel stair. The rest of the ground floor has additional wide board Douglas Fir flooring, cedar clad dividers and beautiful lacquered kitchen with hardwood worktops, with utility zones having Walton normal tile flooring. The room regions have brilliant pink floor covering with mosaic tile bathrooms and wetroom regions.

Aside from the production of a little riverside garden territory and some raised planting beds, the arranging around the house intends to be as light touch as could be expected under the circumstances making the appearance from the stream of a house lost in amongst a wild setting. A littler stream keeps running over the site and has been urged to frame pools and wetland zones, before at long last falling over rocks down the precarious waterway bank and into the primary waterway.

Arranging Constraints

The site when bought had blueprint assent for a ‘customary house style abiding’. Various forthcoming purchasers had hoped to manufacture such a house yet discovered the site limitations: steep, inclining site, trees and nearness of stream bank excessively troublesome, making it impossible to put a customary two story house on the site. We knew we needed to outline a house that broke with the cabin custom and we discovered Powys County Council, the arranging power, to be extensively strong of our recommendations. However the uncommon way of the outline and site implied we presented a to a great degree careful arrangement of data for the arranging application including a configuration report, natural review and surge hazard evaluation. Neighbors felt OK with our understanding of the nearby vernacular and the low lying house structure embracing the slanting site and we could acquire full arranges assent inside of the 8 week statutory period.

Financial plan and Program

The monetary allowance was tight and needed to convey a finished item at a cost underneath the resultant business sector quality including the site costs. The general development spending plan was thus set at £550,000, which brought about a rate of £2400/m2. This was a test inferable from the novel building shape and requirement for a steel casing and holding structures. Point by point outline took roughly 6 months and the task was tendered in a conventional way utilizing a JCT ICT05 contract. It was at first modified to take 1 year on location, however this was reached out to 2 years inferable from the loss of the first contractual worker to bankruptcy at around the season of the credit emergency in 2008. Both contractual workers were nearby firms and utilized nearby specialists on location, including a stonemason who finished a significant part of the stonework and ended up being our neighbor on the opposite side of the stream!

Development and Structure

In view of the need to cantilever the ground wing, a steel casing was received for this component, with timber surrounded divider, floor and rooftop infill structures. The steel outline likewise empowered us to effectively and totally open up the lounge room on the west side to give most extreme coating over the waterway and lower yard. For the lower ground wing, a financially savvy technique for making the holding structure was required, and this was in the end itemized as a twin skin of blockwork with cement infill in organized pours – consideration was required here to detail the development in order to not segregate the building from the valuable warm mass of the ground. The drystone flanking screen dividers were developed similarly, and after that confronted with the arbitrary course nearby stone, being attached back to the square/solid structure.