The proposed house does the opposite. Arranged over three levels, it is set into the bank so that from the approach it reads as two storeys; only from the field below does the full height reveal itself. Stone where the house meets the earth, dark vertical timber above, warm timber picking out the recesses, balcony soffits and entrance. Against the woodland behind, a large house recedes rather than announcing itself. 

The brief brought together two references the family cared about: the warmth of a mountain house with an industrial edge, and the proportion and solidity of Victorian architecture. Natural stone, black-framed glazing, natural slate and cedar hold both at once. Terraced retaining walls step up the entrance side, planted so the landscape climbs with the building — and stone from the existing house is to be reused in those planters, so the ground the new house sits in is partly built from the one it replaces.