The Great Missenden Residence is a new five bedroom single level property, in Buckinghamshire. Via a process of informed applications planning approval was successful for an uplift of 50% of the floor area of the existing house on site. The design of the residence has taken its prompt from the inherent context of the site, an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The gentle slope from the level of the existing building to the rear northern boundary created a natural terrace. By introducing a clear line of separation of level from east to west the design located the 'living' areas to the upper southern section of the site with its wide views and 'warm' aspect and the 'sleeping and guest' areas to the lower northern location. The articulation of the external facade for the building has been designed to create a series of layers between the inner and the outer accommodation. Wide external covered terraces are mixed with internally lit corridors to provide continuous connections to the sylvan setting of the site. Natural daylight is brought into the inner areas but is not allowed to dominate. A series of full height screens are used to create a 'colonnade' around the building referencing the intermittent shaded character of the trunks of the neighbouring woodlands trees. The building benefits from high levels of insulation to ensure excellent levels of heat retention and materials for the design have been selected to enhance the buildings setting. The upper and lower level edge bands of the colonnade are clad with grey powder coated aluminium panels defining a clear edge to the volumes. The colonnade elements are sawn sandstone and identify a vertical expression between these two horizontal bands. The external skin of the building volumes are vertically clad in red cedar and represent a softer more articulate inner layer that is related to the internal finishes.