Completed in November 2016, this exquisite design clarified the layout of an existing two-storey cottage set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Our design response sidestepped the site’s constraints by radically reconfiguring the cottage’s internal structure. This intervention facilitated everything that followed. With the freedom to adjust the internal layout, we reorganised both floors around simple unifying corridors. Ceiling-height doorways and sliding pocket doors on the ground floor. Strategically placed new windows bring daylight right into the heart of the home and frame views out to the magnificent surrounding countryside, anchoring the building in its setting. An elegantly engineered feature staircase links to the first floor. Delicate and sculptural, the stair treads are multifaceted blades of white powder-coated steel cantilevered from the double-height stairwell wall. They rise up from an asymmetrical timber podium that serves as seating, with more storage underneath. Daylight from above and elsewhere in the home casts an intriguing pattern of shadows, animating the hallway. Outside, the changes are slight. Most obviously, we added a new porch clad in angled battens of Siberian larch. Overall, the design transforms the building into a bespoke, calm, deceptively simple home rooted in its extraordinary landscape. Finished in warm, tactile materials and with effortless attention to detail, the contemporary cottage exceeds the client’s brief.