Westlake Brake by David Sheppard Architects

Westlake Brake in South Devon was presented at the AT Awards live finals on 20 September 2023 to a jury comprising Simon Allford, Esther Robinson Wild, Ed Jarvis, Amin Taha, Patrick Bellew, and Chair Lee Mallett. Read about how the project has stood the test of time.

Completed
1997

Westlake Brake is a visually-striking two-storey house located in Heybrook on the South Devon coast. The brief to David Sheppard Architects was for a cost-effective, programmatically simple dwelling that would sit harmoniously in the landscape. Central to the design are a pair of a splayed, 20-metre-long, 500mm-thick rammed earth walls, which utilise 160 tons of earth extracted from the site. The tapered walls deflect the prevalent south westerly winds, while also signalling the entrance to the house.

From the outset, the intention was to build a house from the land in which it sits. “We utilised the soil for rammed earth, but also mixed it with lime mortar and straw for the stonework jointing,” David Sheppard explains. “With a solid base of rubble limestone, we constructed a locally-sourced green oak timber frame for the upper levels under a slate roof with generous rooflights to maximise views out.” All the interfaces between the timber posts and beams are hand cut using Japanese scissor joints bolted together with diagonal bracing tension wires.

Credit: David Sheppard 

Rammed earth was in its infancy in the UK 26 years ago, and the architect had to work hard to persuade the local planning authority that it was a viable method of construction. Over the following years, the house has proved to be remarkably resilient and durable with the only significant addition being lead flashing added to the laminated timber set atop the rammed earth. It has also weathered to a gentle patina, retaining all the qualities of when it was first constructed. Looking back, the architect says that the U-value for the walls and roof (0.25 W/m2K) was good for the time, and the build cost (£175,000) was extremely competitive.