Padstow House – ADC

Sadie Snelson Architects and YJCA have completed a practical and contextually-sensitive family home on the north coast of Cornwall.

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Agnese Sanvito

Designed by Sadie Snelson Architects, in collaboration with YJCA, Padstow House is nestled in a valley overlooking Cornwall’s Camel Estuary. The brief was for a family home including an open-plan kitchen/living area with a bar and soft seating space, a separate snug, utility, and kit room (for wetsuits). There was also a requirement to connect the inside and outside using a variety of different methods, such as covered terraces, walkways, and large glazed areas contrasting with cosy niches and window seats.

“We looked at ways of simplifying the processes that happen in day-to-day family life – life hacks,” explains practice principal Sadie Snelson. “For example, a laundry shoot connects from the first-floor hall to the laundry room. The larder connects directly to the garden and front driveway for deliveries. Storage space is provided in hallways, and a side entrance is used for access from the beach, with spaces for wetsuit cleaning, storage and showering.”

The two-storey house follows the contours of its sloping site, minimising visual impact on the neighbouring converted farm buildings. Local slate is used to clad the ground-floor walls enclosing the main living spaces, allowing the building to integrate with the site. A retained wall from a farmhouse that previously occupied the site is used to form an external courtyard. The first-floor bedrooms are set within a traditional barn form – to reflect the adjacent cluster of agricultural buildings – and are clad with vertically-laid charred larch boards. Generous terraces allow the site to be experienced from an elevated position and give the bedrooms access to the outside.

The west elevation faces the neighbouring properties and is the main approach to the house. “We chose a stone wall with restricted openings for privacy, and located the service accommodation along it to act as a buffer to the internal spaces,” explains Snelson. “The entrance opening has vertical louvres so that you get some light, but it remains private. However, on entering, the hall frames a beautiful view of the estuary, that you are not quite expecting, as this has been previously shielded by the stone wall.”

The entrance hall divides the house at ground and first floor level, with steps down into the living spaces, or up to the children’s bedroom wing, master suite, and terraces. Thick walls envelope the main living area, providing a sense of protection and solidity. Niches within the walls accommodate the stoves, bar, shelving and window seat. On the first floor, the bathrooms are contained within small ‘boxes’ with no windows to the west elevation, to retain privacy, but with side windows north and south for daylighting and views out.

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