Great Elm
Frome — Mitchell Eley Gould Architects, Bath, UK
An aerial site precedent showing a sustainable rural housing cluster by Mitchell Eley Gould, combining timber cladding, buff brick, and integrated solar roofing.
- What we like about this project
- One home features a curved barrel-vaulted roof profile that contrasts with the surrounding gables.
Materials
- timber
- brick
- metal
- glass
Visual identifiers
- timber-cladding
- standing-seam-roof
- buff-brick
- solar-panels
- rural-housing
Style tags
- contemporary-vernacular
- sustainable
- contextual
Visual tags
- housing-development
- rural
- sustainable
- timber-facade
- contextual
- Geometry
- Clustered gabled and barrel-vaulted volumes arranged around an access court, stepping down a gentle slope.
- Facade system
- Vertical timber board rainscreen and buff brick masonry with punched windows.
- Structural guess
- Timber frame and masonry bearing walls.
- Spatial scale
- Two-story residential scale, fitting comfortably into a village or rural landscape.
- Lighting
- Direct midday sunlight casting clear shadows across roofs and paved areas under a scattered cloud sky.
- Atmosphere
- Calm, orderly rural residential cluster integrated naturally into the surrounding green valley landscape.
- Environmental context
- Rural valley setting surrounded by rolling green hills, hedgerows, and distant low-rise settlements.
- Spatial experience
- Low-slung rural housing cluster that balances intimate domestic courtyards with wide open valley views.
- Composition rhythm
- Repeating gabled roof profiles combined with staggered building placement creating a dynamic rural streetscape.
- Style reading
- Contemporary rural vernacular housing
- Program
- Rural residential housing development
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- timber, brick, metal, glass
- Visual identifiers
- timber-cladding, standing-seam-roof, buff-brick, solar-panels, rural-housing
- Style tags
- contemporary-vernacular, sustainable, contextual
- Visual tags
- housing-development, rural, sustainable, timber-facade, contextual
- Geometry
- Clustered gabled and barrel-vaulted volumes arranged around an access court, stepping down a gentle slope.
- Facade system
- Vertical timber board rainscreen and buff brick masonry with punched windows.
- Structural guess
- Timber frame and masonry bearing walls.
- Spatial scale
- Two-story residential scale, fitting comfortably into a village or rural landscape.
- Lighting
- Direct midday sunlight casting clear shadows across roofs and paved areas under a scattered cloud sky.
- Atmosphere
- Calm, orderly rural residential cluster integrated naturally into the surrounding green valley landscape.
- Environmental context
- Rural valley setting surrounded by rolling green hills, hedgerows, and distant low-rise settlements.
- Spatial experience
- Low-slung rural housing cluster that balances intimate domestic courtyards with wide open valley views.
- Composition rhythm
- Repeating gabled roof profiles combined with staggered building placement creating a dynamic rural streetscape.
- Style reading
- Contemporary rural vernacular housing
- Program
- Rural residential housing development
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture