Client: Private
Location: Palgrave, Suffolk
Engineer: JP Chick
Contractor: Willow Builders
Completed at Mole Architects
Winner of the Ideal Home Blue Ribbon Award for Best House 2014
Situated in the Suffolk countryside, this house is designed to Passivhaus standards, with a highly insulated and airtight timber frame constructed off a heavy concrete base. The house is arranged around an atrium with a split level ground floor providing broken plan living accommodation, with guest rooms at lower ground floor and a light and airy master suite above. The house ‘combines a rustic timber aesthetic with a simple contemporary form to rest lightly on the land’.
“Careful consideration to form, position, design, client considerations and aspirations to the scheme led to this project being a delight for the jury to visit. In sustainability, budget, timetable, engagement, invention and response to the site … this project ticked all the boxes of what good architecture is about.”
—RIBA Awards Judges
Awards
Winner of the Ideal Home Blue Ribbon Award for Best House 2014
Winner of RIBA East Regional Award 2015
Winner of RIBA East Sustainabilty Award 2015
Winner of RIBA East Client of the Year Award 2015
Longlisted for RIBA/Grand Designs House of the Year 2015
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Gallery
Press
Passive House +
Issue 21
‘This cellulose-filled timber frame house in the Suffolk counrtyside combines a rustic timber aesthetic with a simple form to rest lightly on the land.’
Homebuilding and Renovating
Britain's most amazing homes 2016
‘Nestled on the edge of a Suffolk village neighbouring a grade II listed farmhouse, stackyard has been designed as a modern house with an exposed timber structure which draws in maximum natural light and is equipped with sustainable features.’
Elle Decoration
March 2016
‘Having looked after properties that were rather old, we wanted a house that looked after us. The joy of our new home is there are no drafts, even when it’s blowing a gale outside.’
Grand Designs
April 2015
‘This bird hide-inspired build blends, hi-tech sustainability with day-to-day green living, from connections with local wildlife to breathtaking panoramic vistas.’
RIBA Journal
Products in Practice Mar/Apr 2014
‘Despite the use of concrete and off-the-shelf glazing, mole architects’ latest sustainable house still set the bar high’
Further Info
Carefully tailored to the lifestyle of the clients, this newbuild house connects them to the land they have worked for many years. The clients’ brief called for economy and sustainability and this is reflected in the focus on timber construction, ultra low energy performance and the simple and economical form. The house also needed to sit comfortably alongside the adjacent listed C16th farmhouse and enhance the local landscape.
At the heart of the house are a beautifully crafted kitchen around which the accommodation flows, and a snug to enjoy the undulating landscape. A double height atrium connects the levels of the house and provides a light filled entrance around which all of the other spaces are accessed. The subterranean guest rooms in the semi basement below feel hunkered and secure, while the airy master suite above has a light and dreamy feel, with a shuttered balcony overlooking the atrium.
The main living accommodation is on a split ground level, creating a lofty dining space with carefully placed windows to the listed farmhouse next door and a raised living room with far reaching views to the surrounding farmland. The spaces are light and joyful with timber soffits and panelling that give warmth to the interiors and express the construction and form.
The external materials reference the landscape, connecting the earth and sky, and allowing memories and relationships to form. A heavy concrete base anchors the house to the land while the upper floors are a prefabricated timber frame with external timber cladding.
Alongside the house are two outbuildings, housing a studio and garage. Drawing from the agricultural forms and materials surrounding the site, these structures stand in contrast to the main house. Carefully detailed black corrugated cladding wrap these buildings, with cedar lined cutaways at the entrances. Internally a warm timber lined space connects to the landscape in its own secret world.
‘Tim’s attention to detail was impressive, ensuring the delivery of the house for which we hoped. An extremely professional, responsive and friendly service’
IP – Millway Lane
On site
