01/05/2026
We often debate where we can build.
Maybe we should be asking how well we do it.
We were reminded of this project recently, nearly 10 years on. A house that almost didn’t happen.
Not because of its impact, but because a line on a plan, the settlement boundary, said no.
So we rethought it.
Instead of placing a building on the landscape, we let it sit quietly within it. Set into the slope, beneath a meadow roof, preserving every view of the valley beyond.
Same site. Different approach.
Sometimes the right answer isn’t to push harder, but to design more carefully.
So here’s the question:
Are settlement boundaries too limiting, or do they push us towards better architecture?
