The Croft

: England

The Croft is a large new house in an archetypal Cotswolds village, bringing traditional rural forms and materials together with contemporary design and detailing, to create a luxurious home that is designed around family life and entertaining.

The new house is designed to appear as three separate buildings: a two-storey ‘living house’ with a striking open plan living area within a double-height space; a more intimate ‘sleeping’ house; and a smaller ‘service’ house containing utility and storage space. This arrangement echoes nearby traditional farmsteads, allowing the house to blend more comfortably into its rural location. This is, however, an unmistakably modern home: large recessed windows and a series of glazed links emphasise its contemporary presence, while key elements including immaculately crafted stonework blend contemporary detailing with traditional materials with a deep respect for context. This contemporary use of traditional materials continues inside: dry rubble masonry clads a full height chimney to the double-sized living house fireplace, and crisp bespoke joinery is used extensively throughout. One wall of the main living area is almost entirely glazed – giving uninterrupted views out and flooding the interior with light. Large glazed sliding doors connect this space – as well as a ground floor bedroom – seamlessly with the outdoor living areas. Energy performance is a key consideration: Houston Morris Architects adopted a fabric-first approach: thick stone walls and roof with high levels of insulation - alongside high-performance glazing – minimise heat loss, and heating is supplied via an air source heat pump.