This striking Wishing Well house, located on the coastline of the small island of Jersey, UK, has walls made of stones and rammed-earth.
‘Many of our projects explore materials that respond directly to their site context,’ say the architects. ‘In this instance, the coastal setting inspired the exploration of local granite, sand and earth as a building material to anchor the home to its surroundings.
The resulting 225 sq m (2,422 sf) house offers a contemporary take on the island’s traditional farmhouses, concrete bunkers and Norman castles. Like many of its predecessors, it draws heavily on the locally quarried pink-hued granite, which is used in the stone walls but also in the rammed earth walls.
The material’s inherent thermal mass helps to naturally regulate temperature, keeping the home cool in summer and warmer during Jersey’s damp winters.
A section of the rammed earth core has been left exposed at the center of the home.
It was a planning requirement that the footprint of the original building on the site remained part of the new house, and parts of the original structure were retained.
They traced the new footprint around the ghost of the original structure with a two-storey rammed-earth wall. Sections of the original external wall were retained up to the first floor, and temporarily supported on site to withstand the elements, before being incorporated within the stabilized rammed earth and granite wall structures.
The ground-level bedrooms are wrapped in an extra layer of local granite.
The cream-colored limestone is used strategically throughout, in a variety of finishes, from the exterior window reveals to the polished kitchen worktops and stone framework.
The staircase combines polished and flamed surfaces alongside an exposed section of the rammed earth wall internally.
Large marine fossils have been revealed around the stair opening that reinforces the home’s connection to the sea.
Running along two sides of the house, a covered terrace offers shade and protection while still maintaining a connection to the landscape.
The ground floor features a utility zone complete with shower and surfboard storage; it is affectionately known as the ‘boardroom’.
The main staircase leads to a light-filled open-plan kitchen and lounge, and a dining room located in a timber pavilion.
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