Caretaker’s House

Dorset, UK

Caretakers House at Hooke Park is an exemplar sustainable and low cost prototype house believed to be the world’s first green timber building built to Passivhaus standards.

 The project was commissioned by one of world’s foremost architectural schools, the Architectural Association at the college’s rural campus, Hooke Park in Dorset.  Mitchell Eley Gould Architects were entrusted to realise the sustainable ambitions of a student schematic design by developing the scheme into an exemplar home.

 The sustainable house is both constructed and heated only from timber grown and felled on site and in its green state. The house’s structural frame, cladding, wall linings and insulation are constructed from unseasoned larch, cedar, Douglas fire and spruce. The only non timber structure is the mini piles. This meant that no wet trades were required on site making the construction process efficient in terms of time of site and cost.  The thick wood fibre insulation means that the house meets Passivhaus insulation standards and is extremely energy efficient in use. Minimum heating is required and what is needed is fuelled by wood grown and felled on site making the system carbon neutral.

 The house is designed to carefully balance privacy with solar and lighting control. The building is divided into two pavilions linked by a continuous roof; the east pavilion contains communal spaces while the western block contained private bedrooms and bathrooms. The overarching roof provides external useful utility and amenity space to all rooms as well as solar shading to the rooms.  A solid wall along the north edge provides privacy from the campus and high levels of thermal insulation. Large windows and sliding doors along the south open onto a veranda which allows natural light into the space while shading from excessive solar gains.