The Lowlands House

The Lowlands House is Rooted in Brick, Reaching for the View.

In the quietly undulating landscape of the Lower Wye Valley, Lowlands is a sensitive reworking of a familiar form. The existing red brick bungalow is neither erased nor overshadowed — instead, it is extended with care, its mass gently increased, its character retained. A new, modern addition is stitched in with softness and respect, allowing the home to subtly reorient toward light, aspect, and the vast valley beyond.

From the moment of arrival, the home invites a new sequence of movement. The entrance is repositioned, the roofline lifted, and spaces reimagined with clarity and calm. A light-filled kitchen now opens to a covered terrace, where home office and garden meet. Each daytime room holds a framed connection to the southern landscape — views that shift and stretch with time and season, but always draw the eye outward and the spirit inward.

Materials ground the project in its place: local stone, carefully matched brick, and charred timber lend depth and tactility to the palette. These choices aren’t just aesthetic — they are gestures of respect, anchoring the new within the language of the old. The result is a home that feels evolved rather than reinvented — a quiet conversation between memory, material, and modern life.

Project Detail

The Lowlands House comprises a full low energy refurbishment and extension of an existing red-brick bungalow in the Lower Wye Valley. The design includes a new entrance sequence, internal spatial reconfiguration, and a modern kitchen extension with direct access to a covered terrace. The roof was extended to create additional bedrooms, optimising views down the Wye Valley. Large glazed openings frame southern aspects, ensuring visual connection while maintaining privacy from the access road. Local materials — including a stone terrace plinth, matched brickwork, and charred timber cladding — integrate the extension seamlessly into its setting.