After 9 months in planning “Floating House” has been granted planning permission by Stratford on Avon District Council. The scheme is our first house to be assessed under NPPF paragraph 55 (formerly PPS7), which only allows houses in isolated rural environments if the design is truely innovative and of the highest quality.
Paragraph 55 ” Local planning authorities should avoid new isolated homes in the countryside unless there are special circumstances such as:
– the exceptional quality or innovative nature of the design of the dwelling.
Such a design should:
– be truly outstanding or innovative, helping to raise standards or design more generally in rural areas;
– reflect the highest standards in architecture;
– significantly enhance its immediate setting; and
– be sensitive to the defining characteristics of the local area”
Floating house is innovative both architecturally and structually. The house consists of two 15m cantivered mirrored glass boxes hovering over reflecting pools and a central wild flower meadow. The reflective surfaces blur the edges of the building into its immediate context of mature trees and vegetation.