“The Quest” “ is a second home in Swanage, UK. A very wooded place with beautiful views over Durlston Country Park.

Initially, we established the advantages of a single storey building; to suit the future needs of retired clients, to provide an elegant solution for the steeply sloping site and to allow for a simple layout of the spaces. At the same time, design reduces the visual impact on the other side of the valley when looking back at the house and helped the layout from a planning point of view.

The sloping site – with protected mature trees – dictates the positioning of the house. Access is through the front of the property, so we made use of a retaining wall, facing on the local Purbeck stone, to define different levels and visually hide the vehicle route, maintaining a clear view of the living spaces across the valley.

In addition, the single-storey house rests on the retaining wall to cope with the changes in levels and views. The large overhang has been achieved through two concrete planes: the floor and the roof which act together as a space beam. The concrete structure is then filled with a dry single wood lining, leaving the concrete frame visible on the outside.

The house exemplifies our belief that simplicity and honesty in construction underlie good design. The initial concept and design controls are instantly recognizable in the building, and we strive to maintain this clarity of intent without adding anything unnecessary to the building. We think carefully about how we construct our buildings and work closely with our engineers to ensure an architecture based on such basic things as structure, detail, materials and order.