Tour a dreamy Jersey seashore home, constructed of rammed earth

This putting seashore home, positioned on the windswept western shoreline of the small island of Jersey, UK, has bucket-loads of surprising particulars, together with an upside-down format, fossils showing in polished limestone, and uncovered rammed-earth partitions. It’s the primary dwelling on the island to be constructed utilizing this development methodology, which can be the approach utilized by our three ‘homes of the yr’.

Discover Wishing Nicely, a Jersey seashore home

Wishing Nicely was designed by Fieldwork Architects, a follow based in London in 2018 by James Owen and Tim Gibbons. The pair are identified for his or her inventive, collaborative and exploratory strategy, with initiatives starting from a remodelled Fifties dwelling in Manchester with a protracted brick extension, to a Japanese and Californian-influenced renovation in London.

For Wishing Nicely, a three-bedroom home accomplished in autumn 2025, they wanted no additional inspiration than the dramatic surrounding surroundings, a part of an space of excellent magnificence alongside Jersey’s St Ouen’s Bay, the place miles of flat sandy seashore meet the fierce Atlantic waves.

The shopper, a Jersey resident, was eager to return to the island after years spent residing in London, and snapped up a dilapidated beachfront dormer bungalow earlier than enlisting the assistance of Fieldwork Architects.

‘Wishing Nicely sits on Jersey’s most uncovered shoreline and offered a chance to steadiness modern design with the rugged environment,’ explains Gibbons. ‘Working carefully alongside the shopper, we had been in a position to create a house that was a celebration of the encompassing setting and native craftsmanship.’

‘A lot of our initiatives discover supplies that reply on to their web site context,’ says Owen. ‘On this occasion, the coastal setting impressed the exploration of native granite, sand and earth as a constructing materials to anchor the house to its environment. The thought emerged by means of collaboration with Singh Studio, who labored with us in the course of the preliminary planning levels.’

The ensuing 225 sq m home provides a up to date tackle the island’s conventional farmhouses, concrete bunkers and Norman castles. Like a lot of its predecessors, it attracts closely on the domestically quarried pink-hued granite, which is used within the stone partitions but in addition within the rammed earth partitions, talking in what the architects name ‘a language of fabric honesty’.

‘The handcrafted, textural end of the earth attracts on the island’s uncooked geology whereas the fabric’s inherent thermal mass helps to naturally regulate temperature, conserving the house cool in summer season and insulated throughout Jersey’s damp winters,’ say the architects.

Inbuilt collaboration with Rammed Earth Constructions and specialist engineer Elliott Wooden, the earth partitions comprise a mixture of rammed-earth wall combination and a nice mud made out of ground-down native granite. The fabric was developed by Fieldwork particularly for the home and concerned many exams to make sure the fitting texture and tone had been achieved.

In celebration of those cautious experiments, and of the sculptural and tactile high quality of the distinctive development materials, a piece of the rammed earth core has been left uncovered on the centre of the house. As for the location’s strict planning constraints, which required the architects to work with the prevailing bungalow, they weren’t perceived as a hindrance, however a supply of inspiration and the venture’s conceptual place to begin.

‘It was vital that the footprint of the unique constructing was celebrated and remained legible within the new home,’ explains Gibbons. ‘It was additionally a planning requirement that parts of the unique construction had been retained, and the venture was submitted as a collection of extensions.’

The staff traced the brand new footprint ‘across the ghost of the unique construction’ with a two-storey rammed-earth wall. ‘Sections of the unique exterior wall had been retained as much as the primary ground, and quickly supported on web site to face up to the weather, earlier than being included inside the stabilised rammed earth (SRE) and granite wall constructions,’ says Gibbons.

Moreover, the ground-level bedrooms are wrapped in an additional layer of native granite – ‘the thick partitions create a way of safety from the uncovered shoreline’, says Owen. The cream-coloured limestone is used strategically all through, in a wide range of finishes, from the outside window reveals to the polished kitchen worktops and stone framework.

‘The house’s backbone wall, which orients the constructing in direction of the land and sea, is clad in the identical stone because the exterior reveals,’ explains Owen. ‘The staircase explores a spread of textures, combining polished and flamed surfaces alongside an uncovered part of the rammed earth wall internally. Giant marine fossils have been revealed across the stair opening that reinforces the house’s connection to the ocean, notably because the views of the coast are revealed when ascending the stair.’

Working alongside two sides of the home, a coated terrace provides shade and safety whereas nonetheless sustaining a connection to the panorama. ‘We needed the home to really feel rooted in its environment, with the association of the house connecting with the land and sea, by means of framing views to the surface and utilising pure supplies all through,’ explains Owen.

In addition to the bedrooms, the bottom ground incorporates a utility zone full with bathe and surfboard storage; it’s affectionately generally known as the ‘boardroom’. Providing completely framed views of the encompassing panorama, the principle staircase results in a light-filled open-plan kitchen and lounge, and a eating room positioned in a timber pavilion.

Fieldwork’s materials experiments proceed in a lot of its present initiatives. ‘We’re investigating using hempcrete for an artist’s studio and nearing completion on a rural barn venture that makes in depth use of different timbers and cork, says Gibbons. ‘Our work responds to the location context and shoppers transient to develop our concepts.’

fieldworkarchitects.co.uk