Plinth House is a new home designed to capture the peaceful beauty of its remote setting on the Welsh coast and create a calming retreat for a client with a keen passion for outdoor adventure. 

Hidden from the coastal path and surrounding country roads by dense trees and vegetation, Plinth House is set far back on a sloping site, overlooking Newport Bay and the Irish Sea. Embracing privacy and seclusion, Hyde + Hyde’s design echoes the footprint of an existing, outdated house and underused shed with its mass and scale, retaining the two-storey height, linear layout and ability to frame views of the ocean between the two structures, from arrival. Where the existing property bore an otherwise poor relationship with the site’s scenic setting, the new home maximises these opportunities, with the shed now functioning as a new boat house.

As its name suggests, the home is built around one of the retained plinths on the site, helping to root this new addition into its context and inform its conceptual design. Just as the plinths emerge from the landscape – having been carved out by nature over generations – Plinth House looks to do the same. Heavy and grounded on one side, here it is embedded into the landscape before emerging and opening up to the ocean beyond.

This intrinsic relationship with its setting and understanding of indoor-outdoor living is also emulated in the layout. Entering through a hidden, semi-open courtyard, the ground floor is not defined by walls or individual spaces. Instead, functions are denoted by select furniture interventions. Their layered effect creates a sense of both privacy and flexibility within, without compromising the openness afforded by generous, fully glazed façades. These fill the interiors with natural light, and draw guests through the house towards the ocean, where the plinth ends. From here, an outdoor plinth extends out as a terrace to provide ample seating. Further plinths continue down the sloping site, acting as stepping stones to the pebble beach below. These plinths have been repurposed as a series of patios, each providing a different function – including dedicated space for a plunge pool, barbecue and fire pit. 

On the first floor, Hyde + Hyde’s emphasis on layering continues, as the glazed elevations have been gently overlaid with a ‘cradle'-like, slatted timber structure. Dappled light filters through the horizontal slats, creating a feeling of warmth, seclusion, and privacy for the bedrooms while also mimicking the mature trees that surround the property.

The upper floor is designed as a mezzanine to allow for a series of double-height spaces throughout the ground floor. This affords the entire interior a sense of brightness and spaciousness, facilitating a playful spatial interplay between the two floors. This can be seen in the master bedroom, which appears to hover freely within the main volume of the home. 

Reflecting the client’s passion for the outdoors and water sports, a bouldering wall covers the southern facade, while the new board shed accommodates his collection of kayaks – allowing the client to make the most of the home’s close relationship with the sea. 

Thanks to the home’s Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) structure, Plinth House is a highly sustainable, low-carbon house. This difficult-to-access location warrants the use of a fast-to-assemble structure. While practical for the site's constraints, the structural topology and environmental technologies, along with high-performance systems throughout, enable a home to have exceptional air tightness and building performance.