Bryn Awel, Glyndyfrdwy // Denbighshire

Perched on a hillside overlooking the glorious Dee Valley and with backdrop of Moel Morfydd is Bryn Awel, a daring replacement dwelling that blends the vernacular, the rural and the contemporary aesthetics into an architecture that exudes quality in every line.

Contemporary Hillside Replacement Dwelling Architecture overlooking the Dee Valley with stonework walls, natural timber and feature sinusoidal metal cladding.

Contemporary Hillside Replacement Dwelling Architecture overlooking the Dee Valley and backdropped by Moel Morfydd with stonework walls, natural timber and feature sinusoidal metal cladding.

Contemporary Hillside Replacement Dwelling Split-Level Architecture overlooking the Dee Valley with stonework walls, natural timber and feature sinusoidal metal cladding.

Bryn Awel is an unapologetically contemporary building the likes of which is unique to its setting. The architecture splits and staggers down the hillside presenting incredible views of the Dee Valley from inside and on the deck floating above the fall of the land.

Richard Sandbach ARB, RIBA (Architect)

The Hillside House with Stunning Valley Vistas

It's no secret that designing on dramatically sloping sites can be a tricky prospect, however, it is undoubtedly worth the hard work when you can have views like those enjoyed by Bryn Awel. When combined with the clients' unique aesthetic sensibilities, we find that there is the opportunity for something special.

Capturing the vista of the Dee Valley in the south end of the Clwydian Range as the land peels away is central to the design although the usage of the glazing though the scheme is highly controlled so as not adversely impact the landscape into which it is set. As such, the key space is the kitchen-diner which seamless opens out onto a deck with a panoramic outlook.

The second major design driver is working with the topographical features of the site. Our approach is to work with the landscape as much as we possibly can, splitting and staggering the form of house such that it conforms to the contours of the hillside. The result is that, a viewed from the roadside, Bryn Awel appears as a quirky single-storey dwelling, but once within the site, the lower-ground floor becomes apparent.

A Study in Material, Massing and Form

What further distinguishes this design is how far we were able to push the form and the introduction to a diverse materials palette that nevertheless has its groundings in the setting of the site. The principles are quite simple; there is a heavy stone plinth, a inverse lighter timber element and the feature corrugate metal form intermediating between them.

The form is intended to ensure that Bryn Awel is not overly domineering in the landscape, instead presenting the low side of the asymmetric roof outward such that is feels as though it leans back into the slope. The corrugated metal cladding, selected for its agricultural aesthetic, wraps the body of the building and slants outward enabling us to subtract the porch out of it rather than create something additive that would impact the purity of the gesture.

Commercial Residential

Denbighshire & Flintshire

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