CONTEXTUAL STYLE

Defined by… • Materials respond to the local vernacular • Indoor/outdoor living • Captures the best views and orientation of the site • The design responds to the site and its surrounding

How to Get it Right

Contextual design offers a solution for those not looking to create a pastiche, but instead build a home that is ‘of its setting’. Contextual-style buildings tend to offer a direct response to their surroundings and respect the locality. As a result, homes are often built using materials typical of the area and designed to draw inspiration from the form of surrounding buildings. As the site is important for contextual-style homes, the building will also be designed to capture the best views of the landscape. The contours of the house will work with the way you use it (for example, paths, or the entrance to the house) rather than in spite of it. You’ll get better natural light, and you will – albeit intangibly – connect with your new environment better. Contextual homes will look like they deserve to be part of the landscape too, and given that planning departments like the arguments around consideration of place, these buildings are also more likely to gain consent than a scheme that doesn’t attempt to do any of these things. This is particularly so in sensitive areas, and where a strong case can be made for using local materials and considering the history of the site.