Private Award Highly Commended 2016

Location: New Forest
Architect: Strom Architects
Structural Engineer: Barton Engineers
Main Contractor/Builder: Rice Projects
Joinery Company: Industree
Cost Consultant: APS Associates
Sustainability Consultant: Eb7
Wood Supplier: East Brothers
Photography: Luke Hayes
Wood Species: European Larch, Siberian Larch, Softwood

Woodpeckers was designed as a two-storey replacement for a 1930s bungalow. The site is heavily treed with a well-established garden. The clients needed somewhere to retreat to at weekends and wanted it to have a strong relationship with the garden. For speed and cost a timber frame was adopted. The structure is entirely timber studwork, sitting on a piled concrete slab. The studwork is filled and over-clad with insulation, creating a thermally and structurally efficient envelope. Rather than pre-fabrication it was built onsite resulting in a marginally longer build time but with far better costs. Cladding the project in open-jointed timber has created a softer aesthetic. Larch was selected for its stability, relatively low cost, and its ability to be used untreated. The house will gradually settle-in to the site as cladding weathers to silvery-grey. Three-ply larch panels form horizontal bands around the house. These bands serve to break-up the facades as well as reflecting the timber ring beam structures within.