Stonecrop

Luxury Sustainable Home Featuring IQ's Minimally Framed Sliding Glass Doors

This sustainable Award Winning Home in Oakham, Rutland (East Midlands) won multiple RIBA Awards in 2021 and benefitted from slim framed sliding doors, alongside various aspects of frameless structural glazing from IQ. The home was designed to merge with the surrounding landscape; therefore, one element of the building was curved, with a grass roof which helps to subtly blend the building with the natural environment.

The curved section of the building creates a beautiful swooping courtyard that channels the sunlight for a well-lit outdoor living space. The new-build home in Oakham was designed with the aim of providing the owners with exceptional views of the surrounding landscape. To achieve this, the architects wanted to include as much glazing on the project as possible.

Featured In

Homify, Ingenious Wooden Houses

AJ Online, January 2014 - "Featherstone Young completes Wing house"

BDOnline, January 2010 - "Featherstone Young takes flight with two-winged Rutland house"

Sunday Times, December 2019 – Groundbreaking new build in rural Rutland

RIBA J, November 2019 – Two’s company

Dwell, January 2020 – A Bold, Green-Roofed Home Sprouts on the Edge of a Rural English Village

Abitare, August 2020 – Swirling Countryside

Grand Designs, February 2020 – A game of two halves

Dezeen, March 2020 – Featherstone Young divides rural house in to two distinct wings.

ElleDecoration Country, April 2020 – Rule Breakers

Design Boom, April 2020 – Featherstone Young builds a house with folding green roofs in rural England

Credit

James Brittain

Location

Rutland, Oakham

The house was designed as a two wing structure which both maximised the energy efficiency of the building as well as providing the layout the home owners required. This allows the main wing of the house to be heated day to day with a second ‘guest wing’ designed for adhoc use by visitors.

With such an exposed site, the specification of glazing played a key part in creating a building that worked within the landscape. The design of the building structure and location of the large glass elevations created a highly insulating building envelope with excellent views over the fields beyond.

One huge advantage to specifying pocket doors is the addition of a completely open aperture, with no trace of aluminium sliders left behind when the doors are concealed within the wall cavities. This is a specialist configuration and not one that all sliding glass door providers can offer, due to the complex structural nature. Complete with a flush threshold, the luxury door systems offer seamless travel between indoor and outdoor environments.

minimal windows® sliding doors were also used on the other balcony, where they were designed as two separate sets of two-track sliders. These sliding doors were designed to provide outstanding views of the landscape thanks to the slim sightlines of just 21mm. The architectural sliding doors installed in this contemporary new build home create a strong bond between the homeowners and the surrounding nature, for a true indoor-outdoor style of living.

 

 

Two balconies were installed to the expansive new build, one running the full width of the building on the 1st floor and one protruding from the side of the property on the top floor. The balcony on the top floor of the home was designed with frameless structural glazing for the glass balustrades and a minimal windows® sliding door accessing the balcony from the living space.

The slim framed sliding doors on this project were specified in a pocket door configuration, to slide invisibly into hidden wall pockets when open. The pocket doors allow indoor and outdoor areas to be completely merged, creating one large indoor-outdoor living space to be enjoyed when the weather permits.

Timber and architectural glazing were two of the main building materials utilised in this award-winning home design. External timber cladding was used alongside the slim framed and frameless glazing solutions for a modern, biophilic home design. 

Internally, timber was used for the interior wall, floor and ceiling finish. This includes a bespoke timber-clad ceiling that follows the roof profile spiralling over the main living rooms and rising to the highly glazed south-facing views and double-height spaces.

AWARDS

RIBA Award 2021, Winner

RIBA East Midlands Building of the Year Award 2021, Winner

RIBA East Midlands Sustainability Award 2021, Winner

RIBA East Midlands Project Architect of the Year 2021, Winner

 

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