ELEMENTS

Elements is a striking replacement dwelling perched above the dramatic bay of Mawgan Porth. Commissioned to replace a 1930s home, this highly sustainable residence redefines coastal living with panoramic sea views from every internal space – each uniquely framed to create a dynamic visual experience. A glass bridge and opening roof at the entrance set the tone for a home that blends architectural drama with environmental sensitivity.

Built to Passive House principles, Elements features a super-insulated, airtight fabric, triple glazing, and renewable technologies including a ground source heat pump and MVHR system. The project showcases how sleek, minimal architecture can coexist with low-energy performance, achieved through meticulous detailing and collaboration with engineers and contractors.

Respecting its sensitive clifftop setting, the design draws from local materials and vernacular forms to create a recessive, landscape-integrated presence. Like our award-winning Sand Dunes next door, Elements contributes positively to the Cornish identity – offering a healthy, high-performance home that’s both bold and humble.

To provide reasonable provision to support both the client, their family and to embrace future needs that arise during their senior years. The aim was to provide a generational living solution minimising impact to the area and a life time home that will enable the occupants to form and be part of the wider community in the Mawgan Porth area. This long term living solution moves away from part time occupancy and ultimately aids the bonding of communities and will support a greater variety of local public services and businesses.

Overall, the design should be: homely, convenient and spatially comfortable. Proposals are to provide a solution that is in harmony with the surrounding built development in terms of massing, addressing of boundary conditions and utilising a vernacular palette of materials and styles that provide an exemplar benefit to the local area. The objective is to provide a timeless building that is of its place and harmoniously assimilates with its surroundings both current and future.

The existing bungalow has unhindered views of the sea and horizon; However, the ground floor living zone is at risk of having the sea views blocked by the plethora of new developments on the cliff frontage. Proposals are to explore the potential of first floor views whilst utilising the natural topography to minimise impact to the surrounding properties.

Existing parking is ill conceived north and east of the property boundary limiting the vehicle movement and effecting the visual appeal of the property. Proposals should aim to investigate the efficiency of the site layout and encourage an efficient and visually appealing solution. Access is off a ‘dead end’ private tarmacadam access road which currently supporting ten dwellings in the immediate vicinity.

Aligned with paragraph 58 of the National Planning Policy Framework, which encourages design to “reflect the identity of local surroundings and materials, while not preventing or discouraging appropriate innovation”, we propose a design language which cross-references the unique characteristics of the site and Mawgan Porth as a whole, with the clients’ brief and schedule of accommodation; to create a carefully considered house of low visual impact and a positive sense of place.

Proposals will provide a sustainable improvement over the existing bungalow encouraging a built environment focused on health and wellbeing with exploration of; breathable construction, ground source heat pump (GSHP), rainwater harvesting, high levels of insulation, triple glazing and a mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) system. This aims to provide a future-proof solution in accordance with climate change goals and aspirations.

Due to its ocean front location, the aptly named Elements gifts the occupants with breath-taking sea views from every internal living space, although we were careful to ensure that no two views were the same by orientations, external features and framing views.  The glass bridge and opening roof combination to the main entrance foyer also provides an architectural experience that is fitting of this coastal location.

The house incorporates the latest renewable technologies for space and hot water heating utilising a ground source heat pump and a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery system to ensure good air quality. Health & Wellbeing is at the forefront of our architecture and this is achieved through adopting the passive house principles.  Fabric U-value are in-line with passive House recommendations, together with triple glazed high specification glazing, airtight construction and good ventilation.

The project has been carefully designed to respect the sensitive locality. The scheme’s references to the landscape and built environment of Mawgan Porth to procure a strong, contemporary link with the locale; making a sensitive, positive contribution to the surrounding high quality local landscape and setting.  The softness of the local materials proposed promotes a robust Cornish identity. This is further enhanced by new planting and sensitive landscaping to screen the building.

A technically challenging project; it is very difficult to create sleek minimal architecture, especially when maintaining cold bridge free construction/insulation continuity and an airtight fabric. Achieving this within a super insulated fabric demonstrates that low energy sustainable architecture and contemporary design can work in symbiosis.  Working closely with the structural engineer and contractors ensured that complicated junctions were rehearsed before implementing, which ensured there were no errors.