New Green Belt Home
A replacement dwelling rooted in local vernacular
This wooded site in rural Kent offers extreme potential. Where an old worker’s bungalow once stood pushed into the edge of the treeline, this conscious replacement dwelling strategically redefines the orientation of the site. This means that the site better engages with the landscape, reinterpreting the arrival sequence for a new and contemporary approach to the dwelling. A generous and ecologically sensitive edge is introduced along the access track—now a threshold that elevates the arrival experience along the public footpath and creating a deeper sense of privacy.
The building itself is tightly restricted in volume due to the Green Belt designation; however this provided the opportunity to build a basement level downward, repurposing all dug up material to reshape the site’s topography to improve water management. This also introduced undulating growing spaces throughout the garden, for both wildflower and ornamental planting.
Thoughtful Design
Design Shaped by Client Need and Local Identity
Through iterative design sketches and models, we carefully and considerately explored different forms for the new Acorns dwelling to fit with the client’s needs. The client, an avid gardener, envisioned a double-height winter garden at the heart of the home. Sunken into the entrance hall and basement level, this space brings natural light deep into the lower living areas while supporting year-round planting. It forms a green core around which central circulation and key living spaces are thoughtfully arranged.
Through iterative design sketches and models, we carefully and considerately explored different forms for the new Acorns dwelling to fit with the client’s needs. The client, an avid gardener, envisioned a double-height winter garden at the heart of the home. Sunken into the entrance hall and basement level, this space brings natural light deep into the lower living areas while supporting year-round planting. It forms a green core around which central circulation and key living spaces are thoughtfully arranged.
Material Palette
A sense of place and belonging
Locally sourced knapped flint, often seen in the area’s historic gardens and gateways, was chosen to root the design in the region’s architectural heritage. This material references the metaphor of a garden wall, reinterpreting the boundary between public and private through a façade that balances solidity with lightness.
The home sits enveloped by a dense treeline, making solar orientation a key driver in the placement and form of the flint-wrapped façade. To soften this edge, orchard planting has been introduced along the boundary, establishing a fluid connection between the site and its natural surroundings.
Traditional architectural forms—pitched roofs and chimneys—informed the design, drawing on familiar rural typologies. The project, named ‘Acorns’, is conceived as a modest counterpart to ‘Great Oaks’, the original dwelling to the northeast, with a form and materiality that respond quietly and respectfully to its context.
Sustainability Strategy
Innovative Living
Sustainability is at the heart of our ethos at Hawkes, with each project driven by smart, innovative strategies. Acorns is no exception: with a fabric first approach, the dwelling is a low energy home featuring a large PV array and infra-red heating system as some of it’s environmentally-friendly technologies. Furthermore, the redistribution of material from the dug out basement aids a Sustainable Drainage Strategy (SuDS), as mounds are created to allow the site to drain as its on a hill. The home also features high levels of insulation, triple glazed windows, airtightness, and a MVHR system. This contributes towards the goal to “promote high levels of sustainability” (NPPF Paragraph 134).
Landscape
Site Plan
