Hill Top House

An exquisite essay in concrete for clients who relish the uncompromising ascetic quality of the material.

It may sound hifalutin, but this house really is a kind of poetry: the design is all about expressing the base beauty of concrete: the very antithesis of bling.

All the main elements of the building – the walls, floors, ceilings, stairs, roof – are polished panels of precast concrete, made off-site, delivered and assembled like a vast house of cards. The house is organised so these raw panels are left completely unfettered by fittings, services and clutter.

The highly disciplined plan has long enfilades down each side so the concrete flank walls run right through from front to back, washed by daylight from full-height windows displaying the distant view. And then the staircase! A concrete causeway cascading down a sheer-sided canyon shimmering in sunshine flooding from above. Oh boy.

Concrete Awards 2013
OVERALL WINNER
The best concrete building in the country.

RIBA Downland Award 2012
Shortlisted for the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize 2012 awarded to the best building in the country for less than £1M.

Read more about the project in the Architects Journal and Concrete magazine.