It’s March 2024, and the Earth House earthworks have begun for this exceptional house in an exceptional landscape. Set in the National Landscape of the Malvern Hills, the site itself lends its own materials to create a modern interpretation of a vernacular house, using rammed earth walls made from Herefordshire clay soil and a frame made of oak harvested from the estate.
Nick McHale, the build’s contractor, describes the first phases of the project. One of the first jobs when the team entered the site was to put the barrier fencing all the way around. With a public footpath nearby, the barriers allow everyone to continue to enjoy the view as well as take an interest in the project, while keeping them safe.
Then the team took on the sculpting of the site to prepare for the building. There was already a dip in the field which gave the site privacy from the public footpath, so we are sculpting out a bit more in order to shelter the house from the footpath and vice versa. We’re essentially enhancing the landscape’s natural contours.
