- Status
- Completed 2021
- Size
- 4380 sqft GIA
- Location
- Duffield, Derbyshire, UK
- Specification
- 5 beds, 3.5 baths
- Photography
- Henry Woide
- Awards
- RIBA East Midlands Award 2022, RIBA East Midlands Client of the Year Award 2022, RIBA House of the Year Longlist 2022, Record House Award 2022, Daily Telegraph Best Contemporary House Award 2023
Derwent Valley VillaResilience in a wet woodland garden
A new-build family home set on an open site at the heart of the village of Duffield, Derbyshire, Derwent Valley Villa takes inspiration from the historic 18th-century red-brick cotton mills that characterize this area. With functional elegance and strong proportions, this family home references the familiar village street scene of Edwardian terraced houses while harnessing an architecture that is bold and purposeful.
The existing building was deconstructed, and the plan extended through the plot, so as to maximise the experience of living in a garden and minimise the impact of car parking. The architecture defines a variety of linked garden spaces, each of different scale, orientation, and outlook.
On entry, a utility structure provides guest, garage, and boot room spaces and connects to the primary living space, a large open-plan volume to cook, eat, and gather. An intricate staircase, tucked in the gap between the primary and secondary accommodation, leads to more intimate family spaces and the principal bedroom.
On the exterior, the elevations are defined by precast concrete banding that runs between a lower portion of blue brick and an upper of lighter red stocks. These volumes sit against a landscape designed by J&L Gibbons as a wet woodland. A small pond beneath the existing willow tree provides a shady and quiet space to sit, surrounded by the garden and overlooking the valley beyond.
The architecture defines three garden spaces, each of different scale, orientation and outlook.