Fencott Retreat by Hannah Broad explores how retreat architecture can support creativity, rest and mental wellbeing without turning the landscape into a backdrop.
The project brings together artist studios, living quarters, shared space and landscape routes, using privacy, daylight, material warmth and access to nature as active design tools.
Project focus
The retreat sits in rural Fencott and uses the setting as part of the brief. The architecture has to create space for making, resting, sharing and withdrawing, which means the relationship between studio, bedroom, route and view matters.
Wellbeing design ideas to notice
- Biophilic design is used through views, daylight, planting and material warmth.
- The retreat separates private work and living space from shared communal moments.
- Landscape routes give the project a rhythm beyond the buildings themselves.
- Local timber, lime renders, reclaimed brick and green roofs make the material strategy part of the wellbeing argument.
Portfolio lesson from this project
Wellbeing projects can become vague if the presentation only talks about calm. The stronger move is to show how plan, section, material and route create that feeling.
Showcase a wellbeing-led project
If your project is about retreat, mental health, nature or creative practice, show the design decisions behind the atmosphere.
- Explain the site relationship.
- Show how private and shared spaces work.
- Use sections and material studies to prove the wellbeing idea.
Next step
Explore more project work in the Architecture Social Projects directory, or submit your own project for the showcase.
If this project has made you rethink your own portfolio or next move, browse current architecture jobs or contact Architecture Social for a recruiter’s view.
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