Val Au Bourg

A contemporary and stylish family home set on Guernsey’s iconic south-coast cliffs. The client asked DLM to bring our trademark approach to designing a home that would suit their lifestyle and maximise the amazing setting of the property. We initially tried to work with the existing building but it soon became clear that this wasn’t compatible with our shared vision. We approached the design as a rational response to the site conditions and rural setting, the form essentially being driven by the programme of space required, best oriented to take advantage of light and views, and the existing circulation/access points and site levels, avoiding existing mature planting and trees. The form is long and low, to manage visual impact, with natural materials such as stone walls, untreated timber cladding, and grass roofs, allowing the building to blend in. The arrangement also takes into account the desire to use a low embodied energy principal structure wherever possible, the heavier masonry elements being limited to the areas where retaining is required and even then, these are kept simple wherever possible, with the use of stone gabions, utilising excavated material from the site. Val Au Borg combines the very best of our design ethos with materials and form that increase the sense of belonging in its incredible location.