‘We never set out to build a house,’ says Ben, a retired advertising copywriter. When he and his wife Claire, a retired tech-marketing executive, fell for the allure of a 1920s property down the road from their family home in Farnham, Surrey, it was its setting within a leafy conservation area that proved irresistible. ‘The house itself,’ Claire recalls, ‘had very little architectural merit and was in need of modernisation.’
Once they had the keys, the picture became clearer: a disjointed series of extensions had left the original coach house architecturally incoherent. The couple turned to architecture firm Rural Office, helmed by Niall Maxwell. ‘We were drawn to his sensitivity in restoration and his palette of honest, natural materials,’ says Ben.
After conducting a feasibility study, the conclusion was inevitable: the building would have to come down. ‘This needed to be a new build,’ says Niall, ‘but one that understood the local vernacular and responded to the idea of permanence. Not a project about trends or resale, but about creating a forever home.’ The result is a house imbued with the timeless spirit of the arts and crafts movement, yet underpinned by cutting-edge passivhaus standards.
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Research into the area’s architectural lineage revealed that Edwin Lutyens, a pioneer of the movement, had built his very first property just around the corner. That became the emotional touchstone for the project. ‘There’s a certain romanticism in that legacy,’ Niall says, ‘but we didn’t want to create a pastiche. It was about craft, material honesty, considered proportions – and marrying that with contemporary thinking around energy and comfort.’
At the heart of the design is a reimagined hallway that channels the ethos of arts and crafts gathering spaces. ‘It’s where the home orients itself,’ Niall explains. Claire agrees: ‘When I sit at the dining table and see every open room and the garden beyond, I feel like I’m in the centre of everything.’
The architecture is rigorously low energy. A lightweight steel-and-timber frame is wrapped in layers of natural insulation – wood fibre and cellulose – finished with breathable render and heritage clay tiles on the roof. Windows and doors are triple glazed, coated with UV filters to temper harsh sunlight while preserving warmth.
A mechanical ventilation system (MVHR) circulates clean, filtered air, maintaining a stable indoor climate year-round. ‘This isn’t just about sustainability,’ Niall explains. ‘It’s about wellness, consistency and feeling good in the space.’ Clay floor tiles, oak joinery and wood-wool acoustic ceilings not only lend a textural quality, but also minimise off-gassing and volatile organic compounds.
What truly gives the house soul, though, is its storytelling through objects. Ben and Claire leaned into their shared love of vintage design, nurtured during 12 years living in Amsterdam. ‘We bought very few new pieces for the space; the vintage patina of our furniture complemented the newness of the build,’ says Ben.
They designed with intention, invoking Coco Chanel’s famous mantra: ‘Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.’ Ben laughs. ‘That became our approach to each and every room – edit, strip back, remove the noise.’
What stands today is more than a new build. It is a home that folds memory, materiality and mindful living into one considered whole. A place of permanence that feels as if it’s always been there, and always will be. rural-office.co.uk
