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Architects: Neil Choudhury Architects
- Area: 350 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Nick Guttridge
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Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Chaos Group, ELEVATE, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Ashen Cross Quarry, Clement Window Group, Elite Metalcraft, Latham Steel Doors, QTD Group, Ryterna, Somdor Engineering, The Rooflight, Trimble Navigation, VMZINC
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Lead Architects: Neil Choudhury Architects
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Text description provided by the architects. The Long House is a two-storey, new-build dwelling in Somerton, Somerset, designed by Neil Choudhury Architects. The 350 square-metre project is built into a steeply sloping site and overlooks a pond, mill stream and garden designed by James Alexander Sinclair. Conceived as a liberal reinterpretation of local long houses, the plan measures six-metres wide by 40-metres long with a traditional flat gable end. A contemporary tweak is that the plan is cranked around the central entrance hall and stairwell. All habitable rooms face the garden to the south.
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The west wing is the social heart of the house, with the kitchen, dining and sitting room located on the upper floor, and arranged in a linear sequence leading to an elevated panoramic view of the garden. The east wing contains the master bedroom suite enfilade. This is arranged in order of privacy: snug, master bedroom, master bathroom and dressing rooms. The lower floor accommodates guest accommodation, workrooms, a study, boot room, cellar, pantry and other ancillary spaces.
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The house is orientated to maximise passive solar gain in the winter and provide protection from overheating in summer through the use of external sliding shutters. A careful balance has been struck between traditional, local and contemporary materials. These include local blue Lias stone from a quarry in the town, lime mortar and render, charred timber cladding in harmony with contemporary in-situ concrete, black zinc roofing, steel windows, brushed stainless steel window linings and an EPDM rubber dormer.
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Internally, exposed concrete walls and ceilings are employed on the lower floor. Where possible materials are left in their raw state, such as in-situ concrete worktops, raw oak linings, a blackened steel and oak staircase. The architect designed all the fitted furniture and fittings, which were crafted in Dorset and Somerset, and include the bespoke, lime-wax oak kitchen.
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