Originally, Little Cottage was a Fifteenth Century fisherman’s cottage overlooking Praa Sands beach, next to the wild lands now owned by The National Trust. The original cottage had been extended several times since the Fifteenth century. We did consider retaining part of the original cottage, however, on inspection with a surveyor, we found that the solid stone structure of the walls had completely perished and any works would have resulted in the cottage collapsing. We applied to Cornwall council to demolish the cottage and to build a modern environmental beach house in its place, which celebrated the natural landscape.
The building was designed to maximise the views from all the living spaces, bedrooms and bathrooms which has resulted in the whole front façade facing directly onto the sea view. The curved forms behind the façade follow the functions of the building, such as the staircase enclosure and the curved shower enclosures with less emphasis on the inland views.
The staircase was designed in the shape of a shell, with the radius of the circle reducing as you ascend.
The building was designed to maximise the views from all the living spaces, bedrooms and bathrooms which has resulted in the whole front façade facing directly onto the sea view. The curved forms behind the façade follow the functions of the building, such as the staircase enclosure and the curved shower enclosures with less emphasis on the inland views.
The staircase was designed in the shape of a shell, with the radius of the circle reducing as you ascend.
The design of the house is a pre-fabricated timber construction. The whole building was assembled off site, then dismantled and delivered to the site in segments on the back of a large lorry, then craned onto the foundations and reassembled to create the skeletal framework of the house, all within two weeks! This was done as an exercise to reduce the waste of construction, leaving us with just the internal fit out and the external rendering to complete. The house is super insulated; with insulated walls and double and triple glazed doors and windows to all the openings.
The house has wild flower sedum on the flat rooves with solar panels to provide electricity to run the air source heat pump which in turn powers the house. The house was designed to maximise the solar gain using the sun to heat the house.
The design allows for one big kitchen/dining/living space with floor to ceiling glass windows with panoramic views of the sea. At the end of the ground floor is a games den and a bunk room with a shower. Both the bunk room and the entrance area have two steps up to them, allowing for the natural change in gradient to the landscape.
Underneath the shell staircase is a small loo and to the right of the staircase is a tiled, heated wet room/utility room for wetsuits and surf boards.
The house has wild flower sedum on the flat rooves with solar panels to provide electricity to run the air source heat pump which in turn powers the house. The house was designed to maximise the solar gain using the sun to heat the house.
The design allows for one big kitchen/dining/living space with floor to ceiling glass windows with panoramic views of the sea. At the end of the ground floor is a games den and a bunk room with a shower. Both the bunk room and the entrance area have two steps up to them, allowing for the natural change in gradient to the landscape.
Underneath the shell staircase is a small loo and to the right of the staircase is a tiled, heated wet room/utility room for wetsuits and surf boards.
The finishes in the house are engineered wooden floorboards throughout, on the ground and first floors, and a simple skim coat without decoration to all the walls. In the bedrooms, the only change in material is varied sea coloured mosaic tiles to the round shower spaces; all the bedrooms are designed with views out onto the sea from the beds, the baths and the loos. There is a void between the edge of the floor and the wall on the first floor corridor to the back of the bedrooms which allows light to flow, and heat to rise, from the ground floor - heating the spaces on the first floor which do not have underfloor heating.
The build took 10 months with very little wastage.
On site we found an old millstone and decided to make this the base of an outside hot shower to the left of the entrance area, which is welcome warmth after a cold surf!
We kept the name Little Cottage for the house along with the original wooden sign in memory of the original Fifteenth Century fisherman’s cottage.
When we bought the property, there was a veritable forest between the house and the edge of the cliff which we cleared to reveal the extraordinary view.
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For anything Little Cottage related, please get in touch, either by email littlecottagehendra@icloud.com or through our contact form.