Bulls Barn

: Ditchling

Bulls Barn is a 540m2 new house located in a stunning rural location within the South Downs National Park. From the start the aim was to create a sustainable family house that nestled comfortably into its setting, whilst drawing the surrounding stunning natural landscape into every space of the house.

The house is conceived as an interplay of three basic elements. A heavy, locally sourced flint base anchors the building to the site both physically and contextually. Rotated clay-tiled pitched volumes sit on top of this base leaving gaps between to form entrances, links and views through. The third element consists of lightweight glazed connecting elements forming a double height atrium space, a link and openings. Support spaces are kept to the north side of the house with the main dwelling spaces facing south to enjoy the views across the nearby hills. Sustainability is at the heart of the design, with active systems including a ground source heat pump, MVHR and plentiful PV panels. This combined with high levels of insulation and controlled triple glazed window openings, lead to the house achieving an EPC 'A' rating and has been assessed as carbon negative in operation. Key to the house’s integration with its setting is the planting surrounding the property: the play between controlled and wild planting softens the bold structure to blur the boundaries with its rural setting.