CHA were invited by The Aram Gallery to exhibit in Prototypes and Experiments, an annual art and architecture exhibition showcasing the process of design.

Our contribution focused on the design process of a House with a Catslide Roof, a new-build house currently about to start on site. It included seven models at various scales. The house is located in the Kent Downs in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and within the grounds of a Grade 2* listed Manor House. It takes the form of a mannerist inversion of the larger house, a small copy that has been flipped around and subject to various distortions.  Inverting Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s aphorism, it has a Mary Ann front and a Queen Anne behind.

The models explore these characteristics at various scales, testing out the sculptural qualities of its form and the deliberate flatness of its features. Ultimately, the design aims for a deadpan quality that is simultaneously familiar and strange.

IImage Credit: Adam Scott