UK Construction Journal - Issue 1 - April 2026 - Flipbook - Page 29
Wishing Well by
Fieldwork Architects
Anchored along Jersey’s windswept western coastline, Fieldwork has transformed a dilapidated
dormer bungalow into a three-bedroom house, shaped by the raw beauty of its surroundings.
This limitation became the conceptual starting point for the
project. The new home was conceived around the ghost of
the original structure: its rectangular footprint is traced by a
two-storey stabilised rammed earth wall with the remnants
of the bungalow encased within. The handcrafted, textural
finish of the earth draws on the island’s raw geology while
the material’s inherent thermal mass helps to naturally regulate
temperature, keeping the home cool in summer and insulated
during Jersey’s damp winters.
Designed for a returning resident after several years living
in London, the house departs from the island’s conventional
architectural language. It embraces a contemporary,
elemental character, expressed through rammed earth and
locally quarried granite; materials drawn from the landscape
itself and chosen to resist the island’s fierce coastal conditions.
The house is located in an area of outstanding beauty along
St Ouen’s bay, where miles of flat sandy beach collides
with Atlantic swells and the land behind rises up into the
undulating hills of Jersey’s National Park. Working within the
island’s planning regulations, Fieldwork collaborated with
Singh Studio to develop a language of material honesty and
context-driven design adapted to the distinct conditions of
Jersey’s western coast.
At ground level, an extra layer of local Jersey granite wraps
around the rammed earth core, forming a highly solid,
protective wall that shelters the interior from the turbulent
elements. A colonnade runs along two sides of the house,
forming a covered terrace that offers shade and protection
from rain while still maintaining a connection to the landscape.
Due to strict planning constraints, the architects were required
to work with the existing bungalow, carefully keeping a
section of the existing wall in place throughout construction
and submitting the proposal as an extension rather than a new
build.
The local granite, characterised by its natural pink hue, was
ground down to form a fine dust which was then mixed into
a stabilised rammed earth aggregate—a custom material
developed by Fieldwork specifically for the house. This
UK CONSTRUCTION JOURNAL
27
