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Sun and sea - Southwest England

Residential Projects

“On a relatively unfrequented, stony beach there is a great rock which juts out over the sea. After a climb, an ascent from one jagged foothold to another, a natural shelf is reached where one person can stretch at length, and stare down into the tide rising and falling below, or beyond to the bay, where sails catch light, then shadow, then light, as they tack far out near the horizon. The sun has burned these rocks, and the great continuous ebb and flow of the tide has crumbled the boulders, battered them, worn them down to the smooth sun-scalded stones on the beach which rattle and shift underfoot as one walks over them. A serene sense of the slow inevitability of the gradual changes in the earth’s crust comes over me; a consuming love, not of a god, but of the clean unbroken sense that the rocks, which are nameless, the waves which are nameless, the ragged grass, which is nameless, are all defined momentarily through the consciousness of the being who observes them. With the sun burning into rock and flesh, and the wind ruffling grass and hair, there is an awareness that the blind immense unconscious impersonal and neutral forces will endure, and that the fragile, miraculously knit organism which interprets them, endows them with meaning, will move about for a little, then falter, fail, and decompose at last into the anonomous [sic] soil, voiceless, faceless, without identity.

From this experience I emerged whole and clean, bitten to the bone by sun, washed pure by the icy sharpness of salt water, dried and bleached to the smooth tranquillity that comes from dwelling among primal things.

From this experience also, a faith arises to carry back to a human world of small lusts and deceitful pettiness. A faith, naïve and child like perhaps, born as it is from the infinite simplicity of nature. It is a feeling that no matter what the ideas or conduct of others, there is a unique rightness and beauty to life which can be shared in openness, in wind and sunlight, with a fellow human being who believes in the same basic principles.”


― Sylvia Plath

Cura Design have over 15 years experience designing and gaining planning approvals for residential projects in stunning landscapes and countrysides including designated AONB, conservation areas and listed buildings. Below are a selection of current and completed residential projects. Click on the image for further drawings and videos on a given project.

biophilic house

Green Roof aligns with hill

Dark Sky Area

Air Source 
Heat Pump

Refurbishment and Extension to Home at the Quontock National Park (Pre Construction)

 

Cura Design recently gained planning permission for the refurbishment and extension of a Victorian hunting lodge on a small holding in Somerset. The project is located on the edge of the Quontock National Park AONB and was the first area in europe to recieve the international dark skies reserve designation in 2011.

 

Unique to the project is that one of the Clients is a thermal building fabric expert and the other is a Certified Electrician with structural engineering knowledge. The project is partially self build and includes a good deal of bespoke thermal detailing as well as planned air source heat pump. MVHR system, integrated solar pv membrane roof and a large privacy glass skylight.

Colour of leaves of trees blends 
with natural corten steel roof

biophilic house Dartmoor

Replacement Dwelling in Dartmoor National Park (Pre Construction)

 

Cura Design recently gained planning permission for a replacement dwelling on Dartmoor National Park. The site was previously an equestrian centre with stables, an indoor riding rink and varous outbuildings on a beautiful site in the Park. The project features a corten steel roof which will slowly gain a patina that blends with the woodland and vertical larch rainscreen cladding. Sustainability features include a water source heat pump that runs on a stream on the property and an innovative fabric first cladding system that is close to passivehaus standard including an MVHR system.

Vertical larch strips
age naturally

Water Source 
Heat Pump

PV Panels and Battery

PV Panels and Battery

Sustainable house Topsham Devon

Rain Water
Harvesting

New Dwelling in Topsham Devon (In Construction)

 

Cura Design recently gained planning permission for a new three bedroom house located in the historical town of Topsham in a conservation area. The project has a traditional brick exterior in keeping with the conservation area. The interior is contemporary with a feature hanging staircase that will separate the living and ding spaces from the kitchen. The project has substantial sustainability features including air source heat pump with MVHR system, solar pv and thermal, tesla battery, rainwater harvesting and storage and fabric first insulation technologies in the floor, walls and ceiling.

Ground Source 
Heat Pump

Glazing provides feeling of outdoor courtyard

Listed biophilic house

Refurbishment and extension to Grade ll listed house Devon

​

Cura designed and gained planning approval for a subtle extension to a grade II listed house in Devon. The design culminated a long process of discussions and applications with Council Planning and was approved after a presentation was made by Cura Design at Planning Committee. The design consists of three distinct elements: 1. The refurbished cottage 2. Enclosing the historic courtyard with a glazed roof. 3. Refurbishing and extending the historic outbuilding.

Super insulated

Natural
Ventilation

Biophilic Extension

Photo: Joakim Boren Photography

Extension to Townhouse Plymouth - Winner Alan King Award 2009 and Winner Abercrombie Award for Best Minor Development 2011

 

A small infill extension producing a Yoga Studio at ground floor and childs bedroom above all under a refurbished stair with skylight. The project includes a feature hidden hatch for ventilation in the childs bedroom. The project received local and national awards and was featured in Grand Designs magazine.

Conservation Area

Cottage refurb Newton Ferrers

Green
Roof

Super insulated

Refurbishment and three storey extension to waterfront cottage - Newton Ferrers, Devon

 

A large part of the design involved maintaining and enhancing the existing features of this cottage in the conservation area in a discreet way. The project included substantial excavations and structural consideratons behind the property and difficult access considerations during construction.

 

The refurbishment of the cotttage includes a new natural slate roof and porch, and new timber period windows in a newly rendered facade in keeping with the terrace.

 

The entrance hallway  leads first past a study and games room and then past a refurbished bread oven and family bathroom to a stair that arrives at the kithen. Seating in the kitchen overlooks the lounge and the views over the river Yealm.The kitchen feaures a walk-on skylight above the island seating area.

 

Stairs from the kitchen lead to a private studio on the roof with a terrace surrounded by a green roof and garden with views over the river. 

Natural light increased for the existing kitchen and bedrooms

House

Double storey glazed atrium and extension at Gerrards Cross

Extension

Double Storey House Extension, Double Storey Garage Extension and Loft Conversion, Gerrards Cross, South Buckinghamshire

 

A double storey glazed atrium was created between the existing house and new double storey extension to allow light into the existing upper storey bedroom windows and ground floor kitchen. The masterbedroom area was located on the first floor and accessed via a glazed bridge.

 

The stair was extended into the the loft area to create additional office space.

 

The garage was demolished and enlarged to create a three car garage below and games room above.

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