London-based architecture practice House Of EM has completed Skylark, a new-build family home in Shropshire, England, designed for James and Sam Charters and their young family. The project marks the practice’s official debut and establishes a contemporary home shaped by its bucolic setting, views, and relationship with the landscape.

Site and brief

The house occupies a previously overgrown plateau overlooking the River Teme. The clients’ brief called for a private residence inspired by mid-century design, with careful attention to views, sunlight, and the surrounding landscape.

Key priorities included creating an arrival sequence that frames the outlook, siting the building sensitively within the landscape, connecting private and communal spaces, and selecting materials that reflect the colours and textures of the wider Shropshire setting.

Plan and massing

Skylark is arranged in an F-shaped plan, balancing openness with privacy. The stepped upper floor reduces the perceived mass of the building, while the plan creates a central courtyard garden and visual connections between rooms without removing separation where it is needed.

The frontages facing the road are intentionally solid, with simple glazed openings. By contrast, the rear and side elevations open more fully to the landscape, bringing views into the home and allowing direct access to the terraces and garden.

Ground-floor spaces

The ground floor is organised around a clear arrival sequence, with the entrance framing views outward. Public and living spaces flow across this level, including a stepped-down sitting room, kitchen, dining area, and snug. Joinery and an integrated fireplace subtly define different living zones while maintaining a sense of connection between them.

A more private ground-floor block contains a guest bedroom suite, bathroom, office, WC, gym, and playroom. Utility spaces include the entrance hall, storage room, mudroom, and laundry.

Upper floor

A rooflight illuminates the double-height entryway, where the main stair leads to the first floor. This level sits within the two-storey portion of the house, helping to reduce the overall scale of the building.

The first floor accommodates the principal bedroom suite, with bathroom and dressing room, alongside two children’s bedrooms, a large family bathroom, a separate shower room, a dressing room, and storage. The arrangement keeps the children’s rooms close to the parents’ suite while maintaining privacy.

In total, Skylark includes four bedrooms and a range of functional spaces designed to support flexible family living.

Detail and spatial order

Throughout the home, rectilinear details are repeated across the form, structure, and interior elements. Large windows compose views and connect the interior with the terraces, garden, and wider landscape. Simple lines continue through the built-in furniture, including the kitchen bench nook, cabinetry, and shelving, creating a sense of order within the family spaces.

High ceilings and exposed beam detailing add to the sense of volume, while joinery, openings, and structural elements are used to bring rhythm and continuity to the interior.

External materiality

Externally, Skylark is clad in sand-toned, long-format Danish brick, selected after research, showroom visits, and mock-up panels. The clients were closely involved in decisions around the brick’s format, colour, and tone. Its elongated proportions create depth across the facade, while the variation in the brickwork adds warmth and character.

Castellated brick detailing, inspired by London’s Tate Modern, produces a shallow relief pattern across the facade, introducing texture, rhythm, and shadow.

Interior materials

Inside, the material palette is restrained and tactile. Lime plaster covers the walls, chestnut timber from a nearby timber yard forms the ceilings, and locally crafted bespoke joinery is integrated into the architecture. The external brick language is carried inside, where the castellated detail is echoed in the dining banquette.

Deep-veined marble is used for the kitchen worktop and bathroom sink, while lime, timber, concrete, and marble are brought together in a palette that allows texture, proportion, and light to remain central to the experience of the house.

Environmental approach

Environmental performance was considered through the building fabric, services, material sourcing, and landscape strategy. Skylark uses air source heat pumps, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and a highly insulated, airtight envelope to reduce operational energy demand. Exposed concrete floors provide thermal mass, helping to regulate internal temperatures across the year.

The landscape design introduces more than 2,000 bulbs, new trees, and pollinator-friendly planting, while a green roof contributes to biodiversity, insulation, and stormwater management. Locally sourced materials, including lime plaster, chestnut timber, and bespoke joinery, further connect the house to its Shropshire setting.

A collaborative family home

Skylark brings House Of EM’s architectural and interior design approach into a single family home, with the building, interiors, material palette, and landscape developed as closely connected parts of the project. The house is shaped by its site, the needs of family life, and a detailed collaboration between architect and client.