In pictures: Wishing Well by Fieldwork Architects – run-down bungalow transformed using rammed earth

The striking three-bedroomed house sits in a coastal national park on sweeping St Ouen’s bay. Designed for an islander returning after several years in London, the house departs from the island’s conventional architectural language to embody a sharp contemporary vernacular that centres sustainable local materials.

Strict planning constraints meant the designers had to work with the existing bungalow on the site, keeping a section of wall in place and submitting the proposal as an extension rather than a new build. The limitations imposed by the planning conditions became the conceptual starting point for the project, with the new home conceived around the ghost of the original structure: the bungalow’s rectangular footprint is now traced by a two-storey stabilised rammed earth (SRE) wall that has the remnants of the bungalow encased within it.

The project is a testament to the benefits of collaboration. Initial ideas were developed with Singh Studio, while close engagement with structural engineers Elliot Wood informed the structural design. Elliott Wood and SRE specialists Rammed Earth Structures helped the Fieldwork team develop a custom SRE mix specially for the house. This has ground local granite mixed into a SRE aggregate, which both acts as a stabiliser for the earth mix, and gives it a distinct pinkish tinge.

The handcrafted, textural finish of the earth draws on the island’s raw geology, and its thermal mass helps regulate the temperature inside the building naturally. In the centre of the home, a section of the earth core is exposed, its beautiful, hard-won finish a sculptural focal point.

The ground floor of the building is encased in a wall of the same local granite as protection from the extremes of the coastal climate. A stolid stone colonnade runs along two sides, forming a covered terrace that offers indoor/outdoor shade and protection and a connection to the landscape. 

The house is a deceptively simple arrangement of rectilinear volumes defined by restraint and material clarity, with refined echoes of local granite farmhouses and the island’s’ wartime bunkers. The solid stone base anchors the building to its landscape, and the set-back upper elements reduce the apparent scale.

Inside the layout is inverted, with the ground floor housing the bedrooms, where arched openings soften the hard geometry, and introducing a quiet romanticism to the robust materiality. The main suite faces the sea, and a vaulted ceiling in the dressing area enhances the sculptural quality.

A utility zone known as the “boardroom”, which has its own entrance, shower and surfboard storage, offers somewhere to rinse off (and shed the sand) after swimming or surfing.

 The main living areas are upstairs to make the most of the stunning views over the sea. An open-plan kitchen and lounge are flooded with light from a large rooflight and extensive glazing that frames panoramic sea views. The dining room is in a timber pavilion introduced late in the design process to add extra space and balance the massing. This provides summer shading, and its dark timber cladding complements the home’s window frames and joinery.

 Cream-coloured limestone is used throughout the interior, with different finishes according to function: flamed texture underfoot reveals tiny fossilised shells – perfect maritime notes – while countertops are polished smooth.

Claimed as the first rammed-earth building on Jersey, with its pretty colouring and delicate interior detaiing,  littoral location and innovative fabrication, Wishing Well is an exceptional bungalow reborn.

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