Hollaway Studio continues "story of Dungeness" with Westview Cottage

A monochrome palette of wood and metal marks out this low-lying house in Britain's only desert, designed by architecture practice Hollaway Studio as an evolution of its dilapidated predecessor.

Named Westview Cottage, the home is located in Dungeness, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the coast of Kent with strict limitations on development.

As with all new buildings in Dungeness, the home was required to closely follow the footprint and mass of the building that had stood there before.

According to Hollaway Studio, the original building was a 1940s house with a cramped, closed-off plan and numerous structural issues, which required it to be rebuilt in its entirety.

To optimise the available space while meeting site restrictions, the studio designed the replacement to encompass both the footprint of the original home and its eight adjoining outbuildings and timber sheds.

The final design reimagines the home as a series of open-plan living spaces that take advantage of its privileged position in Dungeness, maximising views of and access to the landscape, while introducing three spacious bedrooms.

"We first met Tom and Yvette in the original property, sitting in a faceless living room with extremely low floor-to-ceiling height and no aspect or connection to the outside or concept of your location," the studio told Dezeen.

"The existing property was a dilapidated dwelling with a main span dating back to circa 1940, suffering from asbestos, leaks and structural failure," it continued.

"In order to achieve Tom and Yvette's brief and programme, we looked to incorporate the footprint of the connecting outbuildings into the body of the house and maximised the possibility of the existing form and volume."

Westview Cottage is not the studio's first project in Dungeness. It joins Pobble House, completed in 2014, and Windwhistle – a restoration of an old railway carriage dwelling that is in development.

Hollaway studio said Westview Cottage builds on valuable lessons the studio learned from Pobble House about materiality when designing in Dungeness's harsh environment.

"Pobble added a new approach to thinking about materiality, detailing and creating an object in an incredibly harsh environment that improves with age and as it weathers," it explained.

"We wanted to build on this legacy, looking for an architecture which will contribute to the story of Dungeness," it continued. "We believe that architecture should be full of narrative coming from an understanding of place."

For Westview Cottage, the studio looked to local vernacular, including timber shacks and railway structures, to develop its material palette.

It is finished externally with a mix of charred and white-coated timber, treated for durability, alongside corrugated metal and corten steel.

This mix of materials helps the home read as a series of separate forms, playing on the ad-hoc appearance of the original dwelling and its outbuildings, which the client wanted to preserve.

"Whilst they wanted us to create a modern internal open-plan family home, with good connectivity between the living spaces, they still enjoyed and wanted to maintain the ad-hoc nature of the existing property, its numerous adaptations, which really is very stereotypical of dwellings of this age in Dungeness," the studio said.

Inside, Westview Cottage has been reconfigured to open up to the house to westward views. The entrance leads directly into the main living area, providing immediate views of a lighthouse and the horizon beyond.

Alongside the front door is a utility space, with the main bedroom positioned beyond it to enjoy the same "hierarchical benefits" and views as the main living space.

The living room connects directly to the kitchen and dining space to the south, which contains a seating area with direct access to the garden and views of another lighthouse.

According to the studio, the entire plan was developed to balance openness and privacy.

"Westview Cottage is all about how it reacts to the place, offering privacy but maintaining views," said the studio.

Interior finishes include a salt-and-pepper-hued concrete floor, formed with local aggregate to act as an extension of the shingle beach outside. This is teamed with other white-washed and oiled natural timbers throughout, alongside crisp, polished plasterwork.

The project is complete with a "standalone retreat building" containing additional living space and storage.

Dungeness is home to many architecturally interesting buildings. Elsewhere, London studio Johnson Naylor created a holiday home on the site of a radar station and converted a world war two pumping station into a holiday home.

In 2020, a crowdfunding campaign to save artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman's cottage in Dungeness from being sold to a private owner was successful.

The photography is by Charles Hosea.

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