Alison Brooks Architects - The Salt House

Tuesday, 17 February 2009 02:06

The Salt House is a rare example of a contemporary UK sea-side house. Described by The Guardian’s Architecture critic Jonathan Glancey as “one of the best new houses in Britain today”, the building has been hailed as a prototype for flood-proof residential construction and reinvents the Modernist tradition of the 'experimental' beach house.

In 2006 the project won the Grand Designs Award for the Best New Build House of the Year and in 2008 was awarded the 2007 RIBA Manser Medal.

The form and geometry of the house re-interprets the local vernacular of hipped roof, bay windowed cottages. The three dimensional facade acts as an instrument for engaging with the communal garden, the land and seascape, while expressing the dynamic forces of the extreme North Sea weather.

The owner describes Salt House as ‘a ship ready for the worst the North Sea can throw at it!’ A local builder’s craftsmanship, open-minded clients, and an attempt to sensitively transform a familiar local typology roots Salt House in time, place and family history.

Project Elevations

Project Team
Architects: Alison Brooks, Angel Martin Cojo, Juan Francisco Rodriguez
Structural Engineer: Price & Myers (David Akera, Paul Grimes, Keith McSweeney, Tom Williams), 30 Newman Street, London W1P 3PE, Tel: 02076315128
Main Contractor: E.O.Jones + Sons (Glyn Jones, David Jones), 69 Mountview Crescent, Essex CM0 7NS

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