La Ronde Cheminée

This house, designed by the Architect as a retreat, occupies a highly sensitive site within a designated Site of Special Significance, featuring a wild orchid meadow. The surrounding landscape of bracken, gorse, stone walls, and pebbly beaches has directly inspired the design. Sustainability, reclaimed materials, and natural finishes are hallmarks of the project, which also incorporates elements from the Architect’s previous work, reflecting his long-held philosophy: “A building should be as good to experience from outside as it is from within.” Here, the house is intended to become part of the landscape itself.

Materials are carefully chosen and often salvaged: natural slates, local granite and pebbles, used ormer shells, oak lintels rescued from a ruin, and reused portholes and ironmongery. Locally made timber furniture, some crafted from nineteenth-century Herm beams once used by Prince Blücher for his ballroom, further enriches the home. Sustainable larch cladding and a sedum-and-local-heather roof complement the quirky, intentionally ‘non-fashionable’ design.

The house is fully accessible, with ground-floor bedrooms and bathrooms designed for future needs. It operates entirely on electricity, with minimal energy demands thanks to high levels of insulation, including wrapping the original bungalow walls, photovoltaic cells, a battery bank, and an ultra-efficient stove. The interiors are flooded with natural light, benefiting from solar gain and effective cross-ventilation.

The orchid meadow is carefully managed, with the population having doubled last year. All new planting is composed of native pollinating species, ensuring the house sits lightly on its remarkable site.