GLASTONBURY

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The full renovation and extension to a significant modernist hillside property, to create an energy-efficient family home.

 

Our clients were relocating out of London, needing more space as their kids grew older.  On a hillside just outside Glastonbury they found a striking modernist house, designed in the 1950s by artist/architect AJ Hepworth.   We helped the clients understand how the house could be adapted to suit their needs, providing a whole house sustainable retrofit and extension, while working closely with the existing design to maintain and respect its special character

 

A two storey extension allows an extra bedroom to be included and the enlargement of others, while giving a generous utility room and kitchen, and a projecting garden room at ground floor, with large sliding doors that capture the sunset and views of the surrounding landscape.    An outdoor fireplace and chimney mark the end of the new garden room, forming a bookend to the house.

 

We reorganised how you enter the house, adding a functional boot room and WC at the entrance, improving the connection between the kitchen and dining room, and reorienting the spaces towards the garden.   Internally, the ground floor becomes a free flowing series of connected living spaces, centred around the large dining table. Original features such as the parquet flooring and light fittings are retained and restored, while new elements are added that contrast with the orthogonal plan: a curved wood veneer walls, and circular cut-outs through internal walls that give glimpses through the interior.

 

Our proposal maintains the modernist principals, but brings the building performance up to date with a full  retrofit including new natural wood fibre insulation and double glazing, as well as renewal energy sources including an air source heat pump and solar panels.

 

The existing house is a great example of architecture of the era, formed from a series of solid rendered walls to the sides and rear, switching to a lightweight timber and glass facade to the south, set on a terraced site with a series of stepping gardens overlooking the Tor.  This is one of a collection of houses designed by Arthur Jackson Hepworth, a prominent figure in British abstraction and constructivism movements of the early 20th century and was part of the Seven and Five society, formed of members such as Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, his Aunt.

 

Due to complete November 2025

Structural engineer - Momentum

Main contractor - Ken Biggs Contractors