Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

Following two other stories about beach houses by Simon Conder Associates, here’s a look back at a black rubber-clad house completed by the architects on Dungeness beach in Kent, England (+ slideshow).

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

Simon Conder Associates completed the Black Rubber Beach House in 2003 and it was the first building in the UK clad in this particular kind of rubber waterproofing.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

Built as a fisherman’s hut in the 1930s, the house had been through a number of changes and extensions over the years. This most recent adaption involved stripping the building back to its timber frame and replacing all of the walls.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph is by Stephen Ambrose

Interior and exterior surfaces were clad in spruce plywood, before the rubber skin was stretched across the facade.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

“This project demonstrates that the careful choice of low-cost materials combined with the innovative use of new products can create domestic architecture of real quality at very low cost,” said Simon Conder. “It also shows that it is possible to design a building in the context of the bodged ‘squatter architecture’ that typifies Dungeness beach.”

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

Two large living rooms take up most the house’s interior. A small bedroom and bathroom are tucked into one corner, while an additional guest room is housed inside the silver Airstream caravan parked adjacent to the house.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph is by Stephen Ambrose

The kitchen and dining room features timber-framed glass walls that open out onto a wooden deck.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

In the bathroom, the bath is cantilevered out over the beach and features a long rectangular window that maintains a bather’s privacy, whilst allowing a view towards the sea.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

The other two beach houses by Simon Conder Associates are a timber house designed around a nineteenth century railway carriage and two passive solar houses set into the side of a cliff. See more architecture by Simon Conder Associates »

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

Other coastal architecture we’ve featured includes brightly coloured beach huts in Bournemouth, a beach cafe in Littlehampton and a timber framed beach house in Australia.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

See more houses in Dungeness »
See more British houses »

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates

Photography is by Chris Gascoigne, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s a project description from the architects:


Black Rubber Beach House, Dungeness, Kent

This project demonstrates that the careful choice of low cost materials combined with the innovatory use of new products can create domestic architecture of real quality at very low cost. It also shows that it is possible to design a building in the context of the bodged ‘squatter architecture’ that typifies Dungeness Beach, which both re-invigorates this tradition and captures the unique spirit of the place. Although this project started life as a conversion project, by the time it was finished 75% of the fabric was effectively new build. This reflects the fact that when the original roofing and cladding were removed the softwood framework behind was found to be virtually non-existent, and it is something of a mystery how the building had not previously been blown away by the winter storms.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates
Floor plan – click for larger image

Dungeness Beach in Kent is a classic example of ‘Non Plan’ and the houses that populate the beach have developed through improvisation and bodge. This scheme develops this tradition in a way that responds to the drama and harshness of the landscape. The original building, which itself is the product of a series of changes and extensions since it was built as a fisherman’s hut in the 1930s, has been stripped back to its timber frame, re-structured, extended to the south and east to capture the extraordinary views, and clad both internally and externally in Wisa-Spruce plywood. This plywood provides all the internal finishes, including walls, floors, ceilings, doors and joinery. Externally both walls and roof are clad in black rubber, a technically more sophisticated version of the layers of felt and tar found on many local buildings. The bath is cantilevered out over the beach giving dramatic views to the sea. Internally priority has been given to maximising the living areas and the house only has one small bedroom. Visitors are accommodated in a 1954 Airstream caravan which is parked next to the house, the silver of the aluminium caravan providing a striking visual contrast to the black rubber.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates
Living room section – click for larger image

Innovation and Sustainability

The project is the first to use EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber waterproofing to clad an entire building. The main advantages of the material can be summarised as follows:

» Water resistant yet vapour permeable
» Withstands extremes of temperature between -50°C and +130°C
» Elongation of over 400% with no degradation over time
» Resistant to ozone and UV
» No fire risk
» A natural product
» Individual elevations including cut-outs for doors and windows can be manufactured in the factory with vulcanised joins between roll widths.

The Wisa-Spruce plywood used for both the interior and external cladding of the timber frame was chosen specifically because it comes from managed forests in Finland.

One of the characteristics of the beach environment is the constant wind and this, in combination with the black rubber cladding, combines to provide an energy efficient internal environment. In summer windows on opposing sides of the house are left open to provide positive cross ventilation which effectively dissipates the potential heat gain through the black rubber. In the winter the windows are generally closed and the black rubber acts as a heat sink with the result that the use of the back up heating system is minimised.

Black Rubber Beach House by Simon Conder Associates
Bathroom section – click for larger image

Architect: Simon Conder Associates
Design Team: Simon Conder and Chris Neve
Structural Engineer:  KLC Consulting Engineers
Contractor: Charlier Construction Ltd
EPDM Sub-Contractor: AAC Waterproofing Ltd
Completed: November 2003

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El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates

Our second project this week from British studio Simon Conder Associates is a timber-clad house built around a nineteenth-century railway carriage on Dungeness beach in Kent, England.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Paul Smoothy

Simon Conder Associates designed El Ray beach house as the summer home for a family, who had previously lived in just the old carriage.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Paul Smoothy

“We were asked by our clients to increase the accommodation area by approximately 50 percent and dramatically improve the environmental performance of the house,” said Simon Conder.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Paul Smoothy

Completed in 2008, the house is located between two other shacks near the Dungeness power station. It features a bell-shaped plan, incorporating a sheltered front terrace and a pair of recessed courtyards that are protected from the prevailing winds.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Paul Smoothy

The railway carriage is contained at the centre of house and accommodates a kitchen within its worn shell. A living room surrounds and opens out to all three terraces.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Chris Gascoigne

Different tones give a striped pattern to the hardwood exterior cladding. There are also ramps leading into the house from the surface of the beach.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Paul Smoothy

A flat sloping roof acts as an observation deck with sweeping 360-degree views of the surrounding beach and ocean.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Chris Gascoigne

The walls, roof and floor are insulated using recycled newspaper, meaning very little energy is needed for heating, lights and ventilation.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Chris Gascoigne

In extremely cold weather, electric heating is powered by a rooftop wind turbine to heat beneath the floorboards in the two bedrooms and bathroom.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Chris Gascoigne

Simon Conder more recently completed a pair of timber-clad houses built on a steep hill in the town Porthtowan.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Paul Smoothy

Other seaside houses in the UK include a shingle-clad house elsewhere on Dungeness beach, a small wooden house on the tip of the Isle of Skye and an experimental beach house at MaldonSee more British houses »

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Chris Gascoigne

Here’s a project description from the architects:


El Ray, Dungeness Beach, Kent

Dungeness beach is a classic example of ‘Non-Plan’ and the houses that populate the beach have developed through improvisation and bodge. This scheme develops this tradition in a way that responds to the drama and harshness of the landscape.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Photograph by Paul Smoothy

El Ray is part of a group of five beach houses located immediately to the east of the huge Dungeness A power station. The original house consisted of a 19th century railway carriage with flimsy lean tos to the north and south. It was in extremely poor condition and too small to accommodate our clients and their growing family. We were asked by our clients to increase the accommodation area by approximately 50%, and dramatically improve the environmental performance of the house.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Site plan – click for larger image

The new house incorporates the old railway carriage inside a highly insulated timber structure. The carriage forms the centre point of the main living area and accommodates the kitchen. A fully glazed southern elevation gives views out over the channel and a series of smaller slot windows on the other elevations give focused views of the adjacent lighthouse, coastguard station and nuclear power station.

The sloping roof deck acts as an observation platform with extraordinary 360 degree views of the beach and the sea. The plan incorporates two courtyards to provide shelter from the constant wind.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Floor plan – click for larger image

Environmental Performance

Environmental control is achieved through a combination of super insulation, passive solar gain, cross ventilation and a wind turbine.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
Cross section – click for larger image

The high levels of insulation in the walls, roof and floor ensure that heat loss from the building is minimal and very little energy is required for heating, lighting and ventilation. External glazing consists of a combination of double-glazed, low ‘E’, argon- filled frameless fixed lights and thermally-broken, aluminium sliding doors. The structural timber frame is constructed from lightweight engineered timber I-Joists, braced inside and out with a sheathing material manufactured entirely from wood waste. The insulation between the I-joists and studs is made from recycled newspaper. The external cladding and decking is made from an FSC certified hardwood called Itauba and the internal wall linings, floors and all joinery are constructed from FSC certified birch plywood.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
North and south elevations – click for larger image

A canopy projects out over the south deck to shade the living areas from the high summer sun, but allows the low winter sun to warm the house. When necessary a wood-burning stove, using drift wood from the beach, is used to supplement the passive solar gain in the winter months and in extremely cold conditions electric under floor heating, powered by the wind turbine, will heat the two bedrooms and the bathroom.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
East elevation – click for larger image

It is anticipated that the during the year the wind turbine will generate more electricity than the house will consume, meaning that the house can be run at carbon negative. The client intends to sell any surplus electricity generated by the wind turbine back to the National Grid.

El Ray at Dungeness Beach by Simon Conder Associates
West elevation – click for larger image

Architects: Simon Conder Associates
Design Team: Simon Conder, Pippa Smith
Structural Engineer: Fluid Structures
Environmental Engineer: ZEF
Contractor: Ecolibrium Solutions
Construction cost per m2: £1,780.00
Completed: July 2008

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Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

British firm Simon Conder Associates has built two wooden houses into the side of a steep hill in the English coastal village of Porthtowan (+ slideshow).

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

The client asked Simon Conder Associates for a family home and a smaller building housing an artist’s studio and guest apartment on a site overlooking a beach on the north Cornish coast.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

Two existing houses were removed to make way for the new buildings, which are partly buried in the hill to avoid obstructing views from properties higher up the slope.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

This steep incline created buildings with a single storey facing the road, but two storeys opening out towards the sea.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

Large windows on the southern elevations help to bring natural light into both buildings. They’re shielded by deep verandahs that reduce heat gain in the summer but allow winter light to penetrate and warm the interiors.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

The verandahs also provide balconies on the upper ground floor with views along the coast.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

Other additions include a first-floor courtyard, accessible from three sides, and a large open-plan living room with a central wood-burning stove.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

Other houses we’ve published recently include a residential development built on the edge of a steep valley in Sweden and a concrete house that staggers down a hillside in GreeceSee more houses on Dezeen »

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

Photography is by Paul Smoothy.

The architects sent us this project description:


Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan

The Site

These two new houses are located on a dramatic, south-facing hillside overlooking the beach in the village of Porthtowan on the north Cornish coast. The site has particularly fine views down the coast to St Ives. Surprisingly, for such a prominent and relatively remote coastal site, the new houses are surrounded by a suburban estate of bungalows dating from the 1950s.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

The Clients

The two new houses are for the same client, a couple with a teenage son. The larger house, Malindi, will be used as the main family home.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

The smaller house, Providence, will accommodate an artist’s studio at upper ground floor level and an apartment for visitors and family at lower ground floor level. Both houses replace much smaller and substandard houses owned by the client.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

The Design Solution

To reduce the impact of the new houses on the landscape, and avoid blocking the view from the houses further up the hillside, both houses are built into the 1 in 7 slope of the hillside, so the houses are single storey on the road side and two storey on the seaward side.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

The two adjacent sites face south and this orientation has been used to create two passive solar gain houses to minimise both the use of fossil fuels and energy costs. This has been achieved partly by fully glazing the southern elevations of the two houses and partly by using highly insulated, high mass construction for the remainder of the two houses.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

To minimise the possibility of overheating in summer the glazed southern elevation is set back behind hardwood verandahs, which provide full width balconies at upper ground floor level and protect the interiors from the high summer sun, while allowing the much lower winter sun to penetrate deep into the two houses.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates

The external cladding, roof decking and verandah structures are all made from FSC certified hardwood which has been left unfinished to weather naturally to a silvery grey.

Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates
Ground floor plan – click for larger image
Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates
First floor plan – click for larger image
Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates
Section one – click for larger image
Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates
Section two – click for larger image
Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates
Front elevation – click for larger image
Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates
Rear elevation – click for larger image
Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates
Family house elevation – click for larger image
Two Passive Solar Gain Houses in Porthtowan by Simon Conder Associates
Guest house elevation – click for larger image

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by Simon Conder Associates
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