The design for this new dwelling draws inspiration from the character of the local lane and the broader feel of Orford. The lane itself is a mix of informal, modest structures: brick walls, timber fencing, rendered cottages, garages, and a late 20th-century timber-and-zinc house at its southern end, all set within a lush green corridor of trees and hedgerows.
The proposed single-storey house takes cues from this eclectic context, as well as Orford's quirkier vernacular buildings like smokehouses and fishermen's huts. It's designed to sit low and informally in the landscape, deliberately ambiguous in character, as if it could be a studio or scout hut rather than a family home. It's partially cut into the site, set well back from the boundary to preserve the existing trees and hedgerow that define the lane's character.
The roofline is simple but considered, with a ridge matching the height of a neighbouring garden structure, and projections that create a west-facing dormer to the entrance hall and a clerestory window to the living room. The plan is a straightforward rectangle, with a driveway to the north leading to a rear yard with parking for two cars and space for bins and bikes. The main living spaces (kitchen-diner, living room, and master bedroom) all open onto a private south and east-facing courtyard garden, conceived as a sequence of outdoor rooms.
Materials shift along the building's length: red brick and pantile at the northern end near the existing Dolphin House garage, transitioning to weathered timber and zinc as the building recedes into the trees to the south thus bridging traditional and contemporary Orford in a single, cohesive palette.