Nearing completion in the Wiltshire countryside is a pioneering new build homestead that’s relearning an ancient building method.

Located on a former brickworks, the series of buildings has risen upon an area of clay rich soil which, alongside recycled aggregate from demolished outbuildings, forms the composition for the rammed earth. The home is one of a few examples in the UK that utilise unstablised rammed earth; a circular construction method involving no cement in the mix.

Castle-like walls inexorably bind the building to its landscape, forming walled gardens and visually offset by douglas fir and oak timber frames that contrast with the monolithic earth structure. Distinguishing elements include decorative niches embedded in the walls, a spiral staircase, rammed earth flooring in the snug and a cosy ‘storm room’ from which to observe the dramatic cloud formations over the West country landscape.

Alongside the honest and textural rammed earth, a material palette comprises cedar shingle roofing, copper drainpipes, Chicksgrove limestone sills, bag-rubbed brick and reclaimed greenheart timber colonnades.