The architects, who are now preparing a full planning application, say: 

The site of Hitchambury Farm near Taplow, has remained disused for much of the past decade; occupied by derelict farm buildings and overgrown vegetation.

We were approached by our clients soon after they bought the site in 2012, to design a contemporary, 4/5 bedroom home to be embedded within this sensitive site.

Having already maximised the eco-potential of their current house a few miles up the road, environmental sustainability was at the core of our clients’ brief; aiming to go beyond the Passivhaus standard.

We came up with an upside-down layout for the house maximising the views to the south from the ‘daytime’ spaces (including kitchen, dining, sitting room and a study), and semi-submerging the ‘night-time’ spaces (bedrooms, cinema room, bathrooms) of the lower ground floor into the earth to minimise the visual impact of the house as a whole

Scroll down for more images and drawings of the design.