Jonathan Ellis-Miller, whose original self-built 1993 ‘case study’ house at Prickwillow in the Cambridgeshire fens is featured in the 20th Century Society’s 100 key buildings of the century, is about to start on site with a larger successor at West Wratting near Newmarket.
The new house, which received full planning permission in December 2014, will be a further refinement of the minimalist California-influenced aesthetic that Ellis-Miller first adopted while working for one of the great post-war architects, the late John Winter. After nearly 25 years running his own practice since then, the new high-ceilinged single-storey house will be a home for Ellis-Miller and his family (in all three people and a dog) plus guests.
It will make maximum use of offsite construction, lean, lightweight materials and low-energy technology. With an estimated construction cost of £400,000, it is designed to sit lightly on the gentle upland landscape of its south Cambridgeshire edge-of-village location.
The Ellis-Miller family will act as project managers and as with the much smaller 1991 house and its 1998 companion house built for Mary Banham, there will be an element of self-build. The family already lives on the three-quarter acre site, in an existing bungalow house on the edge of the village.
The new house will be built behind it, whereupon the existing house will be demolished and its site landscaped. Unlike many designs for new rural houses, this one received no objections in the planning process and was approved under delegated powers. The house will develop the ideas of the two 1990s Prickwillow houses, updated with the materials, demands and knowledge of the 21st century. Source by Ellis-Miller Architects.
Location: West Wratting, Cambridgeshire, UK
Architects: Ellis-Miller Architects
Project Architect: Jonathan Ellis-Miller
Project Team: Evelyn Liu, Chris Patience, Louis Scott, Carma Masson, Imane Mellah
Structural Engineers: Elliot Wood
M&e consultant: eb7 and P³r Engineers
Quantity surveyor: n/a
Planning supervisor: Ellis-Miller Architects
Lighting consultant: n/a
Main contractor: Dance Construction
Selected subcontractors and suppliers:
Steel – Balsham Building Ltd
Concrete – Nu-span Ltd
External Blinds/NIche Blinds
Sliding Doors and Windows/Abbey Glass
Annual co2 emissions: TBC
Client: Jonathan Ellis Miller and Marie-Gabrielle Rotie
Area: 220 m2
Year: 2015
Images: Courtesy of Ellis-Miller Architects