Dove and Tse

Projects / 03

Sandbanks

Two gables on Poole Harbour: one clad in silver-grey larch, one in black, its upper floor reaching 4 m out towards the water.

Location
Sandbanks, Poole
Type
New build, artist's live/work house
Fig. 01The glazed gable from the beach.

The place

A plot on the Sandbanks peninsula between the road and Poole Harbour, with maritime pines, sandy ground and long views west across the water to Brownsea Island and the Purbeck hills.

The brief

A house to live and work in for an artist: a studio, generous living space opening to the harbour, and a main bedroom that feels suspended over the view.

The design

Two gables. From the road the house keeps its quiet face: a tall gable clad in silver-grey Sioo-treated larch with a lower shoulder for the studio, and a black gable beside it behind a timber fence and a bed of lavender. Towards the harbour the black gable's upper floor cantilevers 4 m beyond its glazed ground floor and ends in a fully glazed gable, floor to ridge, over a limestone terrace and a pool on the same axis.

From the road, two quiet gables. From the water, a room held out over the terrace.

Fig. 02Long section from the road to Poole Harbour.

Towards the harbour

The black gable's upper floor reaches 4 m beyond the glazed living space, glazed from floor to ridge.

Fig. 03The 4 m cantilever over the terrace.

From the road

The two gables behind the fence, with lavender and a gravel court.

Fig. 04From the road: the two gables.

Models

Card massing models: the two gables and the cantilever.

Fig. 05Massing model (rendered).
Fig. 06Model detail: the cantilever (rendered).

Drawings

Plans, elevations and details

Each plan sits beside a view of the spaces it shows; the drawing set follows, from the exploded axonometric to a 1:20 detail.

Fig. 07Ground floor plan.
Fig. 08The living space under the cantilever.
Fig. 09First floor plan.
Fig. 10The main bedroom inside the cantilever.
Fig. 11Exploded axonometric: ground floor, cantilevering upper floor, roofs.
Fig. 12Axonometric of house and garden.
Fig. 13Road elevation.
Fig. 14Harbour elevation.

Landscape

The garden, room by room

A formal pool garden held within the coastal setting: one field of large-format limestone tiles runs from the house to the dunes, with beds of clipped yew and lavender set into the paving either side of the pool, multi-stem olives at its corners, and dune grasses and maritime pines only at the edges, down to the beach.

  1. 01

    Court

    Gravel and lavender behind the timber fence.

  2. 02

    Pool terrace

    Large-format limestone tiles under the cantilever and round the pool.

  3. 03

    Beds

    Clipped yew and lavender, set into the paving.

  4. 04

    Dunes

    Grasses and maritime pines at the edges and down to the beach.

Fig. 15Site and landscape plan.
Fig. 16Day — Across the pool, the yew and lavender beds and the dune grass to the harbour.

Planting palette

  • Olea europaeaMulti-stem olives planted in the terrace at the pool's house end
  • Taxus baccataClipped yew domes in beds either side of the pool
  • Pinus pinasterMaritime pines kept and added at the edges
  • Lavandula angustifoliaPlanter edges and the road bed
  • Ammophila arenariaDune grass towards the beach
  • Stipa tenuissimaSoft grasses in the beds
  • Eryngium maritimumSea holly in the dune planting

Materials

  • Sioo-treated larchGable house cladding, weathering to silver-grey
  • Charred larchBlack gable cladding
  • Standing-seam zincRoofs
  • LimestoneLarge-format terrace tiles and pool coping
  • Structural glassGlazed gable and living space
Fig. 17Material samples.

Project

Project data

Location
Sandbanks, Poole
Type
New build, live/work
Site
c. 900 m²
GIA
c. 330 m²
Architectural design
Dove + Tse
Landscape
Dove + Tse
Structural engineer
TBC