Skip to content

James Gorst Architects

  • Home
  • Projects
    • Projects
  • Practice
    • Profile
    • People
    • Contact
  • Projects
Close

Sandpipers

Sitting on top of a ridge on the edge of the South Downs, Sandpipers makes the most of its high vantage point. The house looks out over the countryside, dotted with small villages and farmhouses nestling among the trees, with picture windows framing key views of the landscape. From the sitting room and dining room, in particular, expanses of floor to ceiling glass offer a vivid relationship with this open vista.

A bungalow dating from the Sixties originally occupied the site. The new, two storey building, sits on the same footprint as the original house with a separate garage and store which defines the approach and forecourt. The structures of this house are clad in precision-made timber larch boards, stained a soft grey.

The house itself is linear in form, but the precision of the rectangle has been subverted at various points. The rectangle is indented and eroded on one elevation while on others the upper level cantilevers, creating subtle shifts in the geometries of the built form.

“Designing great buildings really depends on the quality of thought and clarity of vision of the architect. It is this all encompassing approach and focus that ensures the practices houses are very special.”

Arthur Young, Client
Text

James Gorst’s work has helped to heal one of the most unnecessary and painful wounds in contemporary British architecture: between the traditionalists and the modernists. Like Louis Kahn in the United States or Peter Zumthor in Switzerland, Gorst reminds us that modernism can be beautifully reconciled with the underlying principles of classicism and that modern materials and idioms can carry all the elegance, dignity and grandeur associated with historical masterpieces.

Alain de Botton

© 2023 James Gorst Architects. All rights reserved.

Design: Tom Green Design. Build: Designagogo.