Ahead of the curve
Chris and Stephanie Miall’s home mixes sleek minimalism with a curved form and natural materials to sit softly in its surrounds
Chris and Stephanie Miall had to overcome conservation concerns and objections from neighbours before self building their striking ultra-modern forever home
In many ways Alvechurch, in north-east Worcestershire, is a typical English village. ere is a main square with pubs and shops occupying Victorian buildings and medieval timbered homes. However, a modern extension adjoining the 12th century church is a somewhat surprising contrast. e addition has double-height glazing and geometric lines, shaped to evoke a
ship’s prow, hence its name, e Ark. Not all locals love this mix of old and new. But for Chris and Stephanie Miall, who moved to the house next door just a couple of years after e Ark was built, its bold juxtaposition is a thing of beauty. “We heard some people vowed never to go back to the church!” says Chris. “We always loved the extension and one of my first jobs when we arrived was to relocate a line of poplars that blocked our view of it.”
Over the years, that view would make a deep impression, one day inspiring the couple’s own building project. For the present time they were absorbed in bringing up their three children and pursuing careers – Chris as a professor of neuroscience at Birmingham University and Stephanie as a clinical research consultant in the pharmaceutical industry. But self-confessed Grand Designs addict Chris always harboured a dream to self build. And some years later, as retirement approached, the idea began to move centre stage. Realising the perfect plot was right on their doorstep brought the project a step closer. “I was swimming up and down the local pool when I had a lightbulb moment,” says Stephanie. “We could split our two acres of garden and fund the project by selling our original house once the new build was completed.”
Inspired thinking
umbing through a magazine one afternoon in 2014, Chris came across an advertisement for green oak specialist Carpenter Oak that featured a home designed by George Batterham, of Batterham Smith Architects. Here was a contemporary structure, with softening attributes – its circular form, for example, and the green oak framing. e couple contacted George, visiting this project and another. “When we were first thinking about the house I had envisaged a dogleg or something similar – certainly nothing like a standard rectangular house,” says Chris. “But we loved the rounded shape of George’s designs. It made for interesting internal spaces, with corridors disappearing gently round a curve.”
With George and business partner Ben Smith appointed to the project, their ideas began to take formal shape. Like e Ark, the
home would make modernism its starting point, but also reflect its leafy surroundings via natural materials and banks of clerestory windows. e facade would feature a mix of colours and materials, including red cedar, some painted dark blue – to complement colours of surrounding mature trees. A standing seam zinc roof would directly reference e Ark. Set with its back to the road and south facing, the house would be what George refers to as “a place-making structure” – somewhere that “does not just sit in the middle of a site like a sculpture saying ‘look at me’, but uses its design to subtly define the spaces around it so that house and garden are more than the sum of their parts.”
In February 2015 the first meeting with the local planning and conservation officers was at least a partial success. “e planning officer was immediately enthusiastic, so you could say we were lucky,” says Chris. “But we had to work harder to convince the conservation officer.” ey were advised to start a dialogue with the planning department and evolve plans in response to this. “A slow negotiation followed,” says Chris, “with several meetings and changes to the design before a green light to submit.”
Unfortunately, the conservation officer wasn’t the only one with reservations. e couple leafleted neighbours, prompting positive feedback but also some deep disquiet – to this day relations remain fractured with two neighbours. “It did take away some of the joy of the build,” says Stephanie. “We knew there would be some disruption and the house could affect their views – but only in winter. And it’s not as though we were building in open countryside.”
Eye-catching features
Planning was granted in October 2016, the design having been through four major iterations. Among these was a reduction in height of the main wall facing the road. “e planners felt it would look too oppressive, so we brought it down by 1m, achieved by reversing the tilt to the roof on this portion of the house,” says Chris. By pure serendipity, this change gave the property one of its signature traits: the two mono pitch roofs set at opposing angles, lending what George calls: “an interesting counter-balance to the composition.”
With works finally able to begin in March 2017, using a building firm recommended by friends, things were about to get seriously muddy. To level the ground where the house would sit, on the sloped plot, required excavating 3m deep. “When the contractors first dug down it felt like we were building at the bottom of a mud cliff,” says Chris. Keeping watch was an archaeologist.
“He found pieces of pottery that possibly evidenced an 11th century homestead but, fortunately for us, nothing significant enough to disrupt the build,” he adds.
Chris was able to be on site for an hour before work daily, while George and Ben also project managed from afar throughout. Chris enjoyed every moment of the build, but Stephanie had a different experience. “I was anxious about taking out a large mortgage and still having the expense of
our long-time home which, being quite old, was a little like maintaining the Forth Road Bridge,” she says.
Structural mix
Between March and May the foundations and ground floor were constructed – a standard strip system with beam and block floor above. It was now time to receive a key element of the project: the green oak structure, supplied to site as prefabricated parts by Carpenter Oak in August, going up in two and a half days.
e oak is used in a ‘green’ state, or the most natural way possible. ere are no preservatives, for example, with the natural tannins providing all treatment necessary. Supplier Carpenter Oak describes the timbers as a kind of living entity, which will move and split over time, adding character. “In the early days after moving in we would lie in bed and hear these incredible snaps, crackles and pops!” says Chris. “Fortunately we knew to expect this so we weren’t alarmed!” 6.6m3 of oak from Normandy plantations was used of a QPA quality – a visual grading that limits the size of knots, allows small amounts of sapwood and ensures no bark. e narrow and steep driveway on site meant that careful preparations had to be made for this (and other) deliveries. “In the end it was decided to go for the maximum size crane,” says Chris. “We managed it – with only inches to spare!”
To the casual observer it looks as though the artisanal green oak is the main structural element but in fact the house is a bit of a mix. “ere is a full green oak frame in the open-plan area, but only a single line of oak to the two-storey section, garden side,” says Chris. “e rest of the first floor roof is supported on studwork walls and the oak screen is tied back to the main structure with softwood joists.” is was a more economical approach. Ground floor walls are blockwork, while first floor walls consist of 140mm studwork, packed with Rockwool insulation between, as well as 12mm sheathing board, 100mm Kooltherm insulation, with a 50mm cavity and 100mm blockwork with cedar cladding finish.
Magic circle
Chris and Stephanie’s new self build home has a curved appearance, which is built to a fairly gentle 24m radius. “Anything sharper would have created problems accommodating furniture,” says Chris. “Getting bookshelves to fit to walls can be a challenge even still!” Another difficulty presented by the curve was shaping the standing seams of the roof, all cut to tapered strips and seamed together using hand tools in situ. In the interior the main issue was deciding what to line things up with: for instance, should each room (or segment of the arc, in the open-plan living area) have its own alignment to the main windows, or should all rooms have the same orientation? “We went with the former in the end,” says Chris.
By September 2017 works to the roofs could now begin, with overhangs and bulkheads adding complexity. e curved bulkheads were built up by hand from small softwood frames that followed the arc. First-fix electrics took place in October, with windows fitted come December. Overall the couple found the input of all trades and their architects to be excellent. One source of irritation, however, was the foul water connection. It took more than a year to find and connect to the system despite buying maps from Severn Trent.
“e sewers and manhole covers had been buried 1m down when the road was widened in the 1970s. We were shocked that the water company doesn’t keep records updated,” says Chris. is delayed moving in by about five weeks to May 2018.
Despite the difficulties getting it off the ground, it has exceeded our expectations
e house itself seems in no great rush, as it beds in and softens with the surrounding landscape. e red cedar cladding is slowly turning grey, aging in its own gentle way rather than being painted regularly. e green oak is moving and settling, while the bamboo brise soleil weathers and fades over time. Other elements also emphasise a harmony with nature: a pool reflecting sunlight outside, beyond the living area, for instance; and views of trees through the clerestory windows. A favourite effect of Stephanie’s is the glazing’s myriad reflections. “Our Christmas lights reflect to infinity,” she says, “while birds and squirrels are never far from sight.”
Chris and Stephanie are not the only fans. Last year their home scooped the Worcestershire RIBA Best Build award. Ironically it was the very conservation officer who had doubts at the outset who recommended they enter. “We feel we must have been doing something right,” says Chris. “Despite the difficulties getting it off the ground, it has exceeded our expectations.”