Flood House

Aspects of the design that directly address the flood risk are based on common sense approaches to geometry and material. The house will remain fully operable even in the event that the ground floor and garden are submerged.

Instead of raising the building up on stilts - and hence raising the cost while compromising usefulness of the site for the majority of the time - the design manages rather than avoids the implications of a flood.  It does this with a series of features in detail and in the organisation of the building.

These features include: robust water proof finishes at ground level; lower and upper level access points, including for emergency access on the roof; a split door for the main entrance that can provide access to ground floor and stairway landing levels.

Drystone and gabion walls around the garden and entrance area increase water drag around the house.  The garden design incorporates gravel pits and soft landscaping, separated by permeable rockeries and hard landscaping strips. These features serve to impede shallow water flow while encouraging the rapid dissipation of floodwater.