Country House, Lodsworth, West Sussex

“This has been an amazing, challenging, transformative project which ArchitectureLIVE delivered with calm and confidence. We developed a strong brief to turn our cottage into a contemporary family home, and the results have far exceeded our expectations. ArchitectureLIVE worked with a fantastic team of builders, other trades and craftsmen to navigate the inevitable challenges triggering significant scope changes (plus COVID and Brexit), and the result is a house that is unique, provides extremely comfortable living with an exciting mix of old and new and is much more sustainable. We couldn’t be happier.”

- Rebecca & Dom, Lodsworth, West Sussex

Country House

Remodelling & Extension, Lodsworth, West Sussex

The brief, to update an 18C cottage and its numerous extensions to deliver a contemporary, sustainable family home.

This historic country home is located in the SDNP and has been subject to numerous extensions in the past. As a consequence, the original stone cottage only remains legible along the front facade with extensions from the 1960s and 2000s forming the remainder of the exterior fabric. Internally, the cottage lacked a clear circulation route with limited garden access and subservient functions blocking access all together.

Our design remodelled the entire interior and added extensions, in order to form a new open plan kitchen, dining & family room to the south east of the cottage, in close proximity to a new outdoor pool. The historic cottage entrance now leads into a double-height hallway that connects all living spaces on the ground floor with the southerly garden. On the first floor, a new gallery delivers natural light to a previously narrow and restricted attic circulation.

All existing bedrooms have been reconfigured to feature vaulted ceilings and an improved layout that benefits from en-suite facilities and a new guest suite. New attic storage further maximises the facilities. Throughout the property, a holistic, bespoke interior design delivered the entire built-in furniture and fully integrated lighting scheme including the kitchen & pantry, utility and bathrooms.

During the construction, the design team uncovered complex maintenance issues stemming from a decade of misguided attention and poor workmanship, which had resulted in the decay of the historic superstructure. The project brief therefore expanded to cover the complete restoration of the historic structure and replacement of later additions to safeguard the future of the cottage. This in turn enabled the delivery of a high-performance, breathable, building envelope, in conjunction with new underfloor heating throughout, powered by a ground source heat pump, GSHP. The creation of an attenuation pond for increased water retention on site also formed a new wildlife habitat.

architect & lighting & interior design

ArchitectureLIVE