Planning Application – New self-build/custom-build dwelling | Warwickshire
Willow House - A new self-build/custom-build dwelling in rural Warwickshire, shaped around landscape, movement and low-energy performance.
Unity Architects has submitted a Reserved Matters planning application for Willow House, a new self-build/custom-build dwelling in rural Warwickshire. The submission advances an existing Outline consent into a carefully resolved architectural proposal, balancing planning parameters with a highly personal response to the site, setting and client brief.
[Architectural visualisation of the self-build/custom-build dwelling - Main approach]
The Outline consent established the principle of development and set several important limits for the emerging design. Most notably, the new dwelling is required to remain single-storey and provide a maximum of three bedrooms. These parameters became productive constraints, helping to define a disciplined architectural response rather than a generic new-build solution.
Working with the private client, Unity Architects began by critiquing the garden plot from first principles. The design process progressively established an architectural strategy that responds to the personal needs of the client whilst remaining sensitive to the rural context and the development control restrictions already in place.
[Ground floor plan of the self-build/custom-build dwelling by Unity Architects]
During the concept design stage, Gordon Cullen’s The Concise Townscape was frequently referenced, particularly the ideas of serial vision, sequence, discovery, drama and gradual reveal. These principles helped frame the project as an experiential journey rather than a static object placed within a plot.
The result is a proposal organised around arrival, movement and settlement. Internal and external spaces are connected through walkways, garden routes and carefully composed views, creating a changing architectural experience as the occupant moves through the site.
[Elevations of the self-build/custom-build dwelling]
A key ambition was to position the new home ‘in the space’, rather than ‘on the edge of the space’. Instead of locating the dwelling at the perimeter of the plot and looking outwards, the proposal places occupation at the heart of the site. This creates a more immersive relationship between building, garden and surrounding landscape.
By placing the end-user at the epicentre of the plot, the design promotes varied outlooks and changing aspects from one space to the next. Rather than relying on a single panoramic view, the scheme creates a series of framed moments that can be discovered, captured and reassembled through movement.
[Axonometric diagram showing key stages of concept development
This strategy is most clearly expressed through the ‘Social Island’, a central projection surrounded by garden, trees, planting and long-distance views. It forms a distinctive social setting within the plot and anchors the wider spatial sequence.
Alongside its architectural ambition, Willow House has been developed with a strong environmental focus. The building is designed to achieve the PHI Low Energy Building Standard and, with further technical detailing, has the potential to achieve Passive House Classic standard.
[Architectural visualisation of the self-build/custom-build dwelling - The Social Island]
“We have created a highly personal home that feels deeply connected to its setting. Locating the occupants within the heart of the site is key. Rather than ‘we are here and it is there’, we have created ‘we are in the space, and it surrounds us’. This scenario-based strategy was critical to how we developed the architectural scheme from blank garden land, and it fundamentally alters the experiential conditions we have been able to create. There are lots of little moments and different types of spaces for the occupant to discover and enjoy” — Jason Laity, Founding Director, Unity Architects
Unity Architects is pleased to present an architecturally significant and environmentally conscious custom-build home that responds to its rural Warwickshire setting while supporting the needs of the client and future generations.
If you are a homeowner client or developer client and have ambitions of designing and building your own home, feel free to contact Unity Architects and we will happily talk with you about your project.
Expert Content Written by: Jason Laity BA(Hons) DipArch DipAP RIBA [Founding Director and Principal Architect] of Unity Architects.