Four Bespoke Houses, Moor Park, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate

These four bespoke luxury contemporary homes are set within the enclosed private grounds of the existing Grade 2 mansion and Moor Park Estate.

The architectural style of the homes has been inspired by research into local vernacular typologies found within the estate and the wider rural landscape beyond.

The homes are accessed via a “public” courtyard where occupants are integrated into a shared space that become introverted private courtyards and a secluded world unto themselves once beyond the threshold.

The open aspect of the site generates a linear series of confident architectural forms. These respond to the history of the grid of the main mansion and the distant views to open countryside beyond.

The architecture explores the predictability of the Yorkshire climate and responds to this with overhangs and cantilevers, providing protection within a series of dynamic forms. The architecture therefore becomes an expression of the environment, providing physical and emotional shelter.

The warm material palette at ground floor is predominantly Yorkshire gritstone, with timber and glass. Low profile roofs have been introduced to the first floor volumes which are zinc clad, reminiscent of the subservient language of agricultural outbuildings; creating a respectful language to the exiting manor house and other listed elements of the park.

Completed 2020