Quiet House: A Paragraph 84 home which unearths the colour and texture of its site to create a tranquil, quiet home for the stewards of its past, present and future.

A Paragraph 84 Family Home in Devon

Situated in the rolling landscape of the Otter Valley, Quiet House is an outstanding design proposal that serves as the natural next chapter for a site that has benefitted from over 50 years of land stewardship. The three-acre site has been nurtured by the family since the 1970s through a dedicated program of hedge laying and ecological enhancement.

Studio Bark have designed the home to support neurodiversity. By unearthing hyper-local colours and textures from the soil and minerals of the site, the project creates a tranquil, sensory-led environment.

The house was submitted for planning under Paragraph 84e of the NPPF.

Find Studio Bark’s research into the policy here.

Interior image of Quiet House, a sensitive zero carbon home by Studio Bark

Client Testimonial

‘We had a fantastic experience working with Studio Bark on our Quiet House project. From the outset, their design approach felt both thoughtful and well-structured, underpinned by a strong environmental ethos that aligned perfectly with our ambitions for the house.

One of their standout strengths is communication - particularly their ability to translate complex architectural and sustainability ideas into clear, engaging visuals. This made the process much easier to follow and helped bring the project to life at every stage. The team were collaborative, approachable, and clearly committed to creating something genuinely tailored to our family.

We especially appreciated how they engaged with more personal aspects of the brief, including integrating textiles and colour work and responding sensitively to neurodivergent needs. This made the project feel far more holistic than a typical architectural exercise.

The end result is a home that feels both deeply personal and closely connected to its landscape - simple, sustainable, and designed for long-term family living. We’re incredibly grateful for the creativity, care, and dedication Studio Bark brought to the project and would not hesitate to recommend them.’

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Navigating a sensitive site

The building is embedded into the landscape’s natural contours, adopting a low-slung, linear form. This design response is strategically positioned to touch the ground as lightly as possible while navigating buried utilities and sensitive ecological buffers.

Colours and textures have been deeply inspired by the surrounding Devon soil and site minerals, creating a poetic, contemporary interpretation of the local vernacular through stone plinths and a modernised cob construction.

Designing a home for neurodiversity

The internal layout prioritises sensory sanctuary through three dedicated quiet spaces interspersed between open-plan living areas, linked by views to the landscaping beyond. This aids spatial sequencing and provides essential recalibration zones for the inhabitants.

The linear plan is strictly defined by its dual-elevation character: a protective, lime-rendered north side with minimal openings to minimise heat loss; and a generous, timber-clad south side featuring deep roof overhangs to maximise passive solar gain while connecting seamlessly with the wetland and meadow gardens.

The chimney facilitates both passive stack cooling and log burner heating underpinned by a rigorous environmental strategy.

A Quiet Space within the Quiet house with a closed, stained timber partition

Land stewardship and landscape enhancement

Specific landscape interventions, such as water rills and native planting, provide natural sound attenuation to mitigate background noise from a nearby bypass without the need for contrived visual buffers.

Submitted under Paragraph 84e of the NPPF, Quiet House targets an ambitious whole-life zero-carbon standard, transitioning to a carbon-negative status within just seven years while delivering a significant 30% habitat biodiversity net gain.

Site at Quiet House - year 50 - site axo

A Whole Life Zero Carbon Home

Quiet House is designed to achieve an ambitious Whole Life Zero Carbon standard, utilising bio-based materials like locally sourced cob and timber. The energy strategy uses a fabric-first approach with high-performance U-values that exceed LETI and Passivhaus benchmarks, paired with dual-orientation glazing that balances passive solar gain in the south with minimised heat loss to the north.

Read about Studio Bark’s approach to Whole Life Zero Carbon here.

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