Croes Fach

BRECON BEACONS NATIONAL PARK

Croes Fach is a 400m2 family home located in the Brecon Beacons National Park, at the foot of the Sugar Loaf mountain which lies South West of the site. The new dwelling replaces a nondescript 1950’s house that had been extended, often quite awkwardly, by generations of owners. Croes Fach now provides five bedrooms, as well as an independent ground floor annex with living & kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. The annex connects to a generous family garage. The quality of the site was such that a design was developed with the aim of wholeheartedly celebrating its dramatic outlook. Relocating the building’s footprint adjacent to the highest spot in the garden opened up unbroken views of Sugar Loaf’s ridgeline and enabled the placement of open plan living spaces on the upper floor, while maintaining their direct physical links to the garden. A kitchen, dining area and lounge look out to a constantly evolving natural landscape through a 15m long and 3.3m tall glass wall, which opens onto a slate terrace. A couple of steps then lead to a lawn which swoops up from the garden which is addressed directly by bedrooms on the floor below. A tall stone chimney marks the transition from the open plan living space to a cozy snug at the upper floor and also creates a pivot point in the plan where the ground floor axis shifts to address the garden, while the upper floor aligns with the best view of Sugar Loaf’s ridge. These two axes establish a recurring geometry in Croes Fach’s design, where they are used to expand key spaces, such as the arrival hall, into an enriched design of oblique and acute angles. The overall form incises into the landscape simple shard-like volumes of stone, cedar, glass, steel and zinc.