Arundel Terrace is a new family home designed for a local Cornish family, set on a sloping site in Marhamchurch, near Bude. The project balances contemporary living with a strong respect for local character, landscape, and Cornwall’s increasingly stringent energy efficiency standards.
The design draws on traditional Cornish building forms, reinterpreted through a contemporary architectural approach. Simple pitched roof volumes are combined with carefully proportioned modern openings, creating a home that feels rooted in its setting while responding to modern family life.
A restrained material palette of natural stonework, timber cladding, and a metal standing-seam roof has been selected to reflect the surrounding built environment. The muted tones of the materials reduce the visual impact of the new dwelling, allowing it to integrate comfortably into its surroundings.
The house is carefully positioned to work with the site’s natural slope, using the topography as a design advantage rather than a constraint. The ground floor is partially recessed into the landscape, providing level access from the front of the property, while the rising ground to the rear allows level access to the first floor from the garden. This approach minimises the apparent scale of the building, reduces excavation, and strengthens the connection between the house and its setting.
Arundel Terrace is designed to be a highly energy-efficient home, meeting Cornwall’s strict performance requirements through a fabric-first approach and carefully considered building form and orientation. The result is a comfortable, future-focused family home that supports sustainable living without compromising architectural quality.
Internally, the layout is shaped around contemporary family life, with light-filled spaces, strong connections to the garden, and framed views across the surrounding landscape. The combination of traditional proportions and modern detailing creates a home that feels both familiar and distinctly modern, reflecting our wider approach to residential architecture in Cornwall: context-led design, thoughtful material choices, and buildings that work in harmony with their environment and the people who live in them.
