Virginia Water / McLean Quinlan

Architects: McLean Quinlan
Area: 270 m²
Year: 2024
Photography: Jim Stephenson
Structural Engineering: Fold Structural Engineers
Interior Design: McLean Quinlan
Contractor: Blake Builders
Garden Design: Studio 31 Landscape Architects
M&E: We Design For Ltd
Quantity Surveying: Baillie Knowles Partnership
Joinery: Future Joinery Systems
Kitchen: Future Joinery Systems with Dekton worktop
Lighting Design: McLean Quinlan
Lighting: Astro Lighting
Windows and Doors: Velfac 200E windows and Velfac doors
Paint: COAT Paints
Sanitaryware and Brassware: Lusso Stone
Materials: Timber structure with minimal steel, laminated veneer lumber joists, plywood, oak flooring and joinery, TBS Mystique brick, reconstituted stone, MOSA tiles, Dekton worktop
City: Surrey
Country: United Kingdom

Virginia Water is a single-story residence designed by McLean Quinlan within a semi-rural Surrey landscape of protected woodland, wildflower meadow, and a nearby river. Designed for a client relocating from London, the 270 sqm house responds to a brief for an efficient, high-performance home that supports everyday life while providing generous spaces to host family and friends. The architecture is organized as a series of interconnected rooms around a central courtyard, enabling natural light, cross-ventilation, and sustained visual connections with the surrounding vegetation. A restrained material palette of oak, brick, plywood, laminated veneer lumber, and reconstituted stone establishes continuity between the interiors and exterior architecture. The building is raised above the ground in response to the site’s floodplain zoning, with ramps and steps connecting the elevated floor level to the landscape. Environmental measures include triple glazing, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, high levels of airtightness, a ground source heat pump beneath the meadow, automated shading, and tree planting intended to reduce overheating. Existing protected trees and ecological conditions were addressed with specialist consultants, while native planting, a cultivated wildflower meadow, and a kitchen garden reinforce the property’s relationship with its natural setting.

Virginia Water develops its relationship with the landscape through the arrangement and scale of its openings rather than through uninterrupted expanses of glazing. McLean Quinlan introduced a range of apertures throughout the house, from floor-to-ceiling glazed sections to narrower vertical windows. Their dimensions respond to the need for daylight, ventilation, outward views, and privacy, allowing different rooms to establish distinct relationships with the woodland, meadow, and river around the property.

A client moving from London commissioned the house, and their interests in hiking and birdwatching shaped the desire for a home closely connected to nature. McLean Quinlan was asked to combine this emphasis on landscape with efficient environmental performance and spaces capable of accommodating gatherings of family and friends. Rather than concentrating the program within a compact enclosed volume, the architects arranged the rooms around a courtyard that becomes both a source of daylight and a recurring visual reference within the plan.

Arrival is through a glazed entrance lobby, where views extend directly toward the central courtyard. From here, circulation leads into the principal open-plan living area, which combines the living room, kitchen, and dining space. These shared functions form the social center of the house and were planned to support the client’s emphasis on entertaining.

The kitchen was developed with Future Joinery Systems as a bespoke installation. Its parametric plywood construction responds to the client’s preference for a customized kitchen with a modest visual character. The plywood also complements the exposed laminated veneer lumber joists in the main living space, elements the client valued for their Scandinavian aesthetic. Material continuity extends through the remainder of the interiors, which were also designed by McLean Quinlan. Oak flooring and joinery are used throughout the residence, establishing a warm and consistent base palette. Exposed brick wraps around the central courtyard and continues into the entrance lobby, drawing an exterior material into the interior and strengthening the connection between enclosed rooms and the courtyard.

Beyond the principal living spaces, Virginia Water contains four bedrooms, an office, and three bathrooms. The varying window sizes allow these more private rooms to maintain contact with the landscape without relying on uniformly large areas of glass. Larger glazed openings provide broader views where appropriate, while smaller vertical windows frame particular portions of the surroundings and offer greater privacy.

The external elevations reinforce the distinction between the building’s precise architectural geometry and the softer character of the meadow. On the rear facade, which overlooks the wildflower planting, dark brickwork is combined with columns and exposed reconstituted stone lintels. These elements establish a repeated linear rhythm across the elevation while providing a material contrast with the surrounding vegetation.

The structural strategy further reflects the project’s environmental priorities. The house uses a timber structure with minimal steel, a decision made for both environmental performance and sustainability. Timber is also expressed internally through the laminated veneer lumber joists, allowing the structural system to contribute directly to the visual character of the living spaces.

Floodplain zoning was another determining condition. The house is raised above ground level in response to the site’s location within the floodplain, and its elevated position is negotiated through ramps and steps. This separation from the meadow creates the impression that the low building is hovering slightly above the landscape rather than sitting heavily within it.

Environmental performance is supported by a combination of building fabric, mechanical systems, and passive strategies. Triple glazing and strong airtightness ratings contribute to energy efficiency, while a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system provides controlled ventilation. A ground source heat pump installed beneath the wildflower meadow supplies energy-efficient heating.

Measures intended to address overheating include automated shading and strategically planted young trees. These measures work alongside the house’s openings and courtyard arrangement, which also facilitate natural ventilation. Senior architect Emma Reeves identified the courtyard as particularly important to the environmental and spatial strategy of the project: “The surrounding landscape, including the protected woodland and floodplain zone, is central to the narrative of this home. We designed Virginia Water to sit gently within its context, keeping a low-lying profile. The central courtyard is key to the design, bringing in natural light and enabling cross-ventilation throughout the home.

The sensitivity of the existing site also shaped the landscape strategy. With protected trees and established ecological conditions surrounding the building, McLean Quinlan collaborated with arboricultural and environmental consultants to safeguard existing plant and wildlife. The landscape design focuses on native British vegetation while retaining the woodland as a defining element of the property. The client cultivated the wildflower meadow and kitchen garden alongside the existing woodland, introducing additional planted areas without replacing the site’s established character. Together, the woodland, meadow, and productive garden create several distinct landscape conditions around the residence and provide different outlooks from the rooms surrounding the courtyard.

Completed in June 2024 following the start of construction in May 2023, Virginia Water combines a low single-story form with a courtyard plan, restrained material palette, and environmental systems shaped by the specific conditions of its Surrey site. The floodplain, protected woodland, and existing ecology operate as practical constraints as well as central influences on the architecture, informing the building’s raised floor level, landscape relationship, ventilation strategy, and careful framing of views.