Set in 84 acres of the Kent countryside, Caring Wood is no ordinary home. Sculptural, sustainable and inspired by traditional oast houses, it was designed by James Macdonald Wright and Niall Maxwell. The pair had worked together on previous projects, so when Macdonald Wright embarked on an ambitious scheme to accommodate three generations of his own family, Maxwell was the obvious collaborator. The result of the eight-year-long process is a towering example of sustainability and craftsmanship.
Macdonald Wright and Maxwell's project is modern but shows 'clear links to the Kentish vernacular and local building traditions'. The innovative designs ideas incorporated in Caring Wood such as oast towers with interlinking roofs, timber-frame and chesnut cladding, and the use of modern vernacular staircases led their project to be awarded the RIBA House of the Year 2017.
We caught up with the MacDonald Wright and Maxwell to talk sustainbility, design innovation, plot finding and how to source local materials.
Tell us about the inspiration behind your design.
Did the site take long to find?
The use of local materials was obviously of great importance to the overall design.
JMW: 'It was a significant aspect and I was keen that we would look in the region for our materials. Gallagher's quarry is the last remaining ragstone quarry in the UK and is just five miles away. In the late 1800s our site had also been a quarry, so this stone was an obvious choice for the house plinth and walls; in fact, we were able to uncover some stone as the foundations were dug. For the sculptural roof, handmade Kent peg tiles – 150,000 of them – were selected and ordered a year in advance to ensure we had them in time. The roof profiles were pulled low over the plinths, almost touching the landscape in places, and we designed them without gutters, letting the rain run off with a French drain around the perimeter. Coppiced sweet chestnut from Sussex, a lovely wood for use outside, was chosen for the external cladding as it weathers well and has little moisture movement.
What aspects of the project are you most proud of?
Find out more about Caring Wood on Macdonald Wright's and Rural Office for Architecture's websites.
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