We are architects and consultants designing low-carbon, energy-efficient buildings fit for the future. Through a creative dialogue with our clients we seek to create inspiring, atmospheric spaces that are a pleasure to use, responsive to needs of their users and that bring lasting improvements to the quality of people’s lives.
prewett bizley house for sale in bruton
4 october 2024
By reconstructing the rear of this narrow grade II listed house in Bruton, we created a cascade of rooms and outdoor terraces that open the house up to the garden and reimagine the interior spaces. Rather than emphasising a distinction between old and new elements, the interior is treated as a collage of materials and textures. The house is for sale through the Modern House. For more project information see here.
ABOUT US
Working from studios in London and Wells in Somerset, we are a team of architects committed to radically reducing the impact of buildings on the environment. Having pioneered some of the most ambitious retrofit and Passivhaus projects we push the boundaries of low-energy and low-carbon construction to create buildings that are robust, joyful and sustainable.
By establishing an open and creative dialogue with our clients we seek to make engaging, atmospheric environments that enhance people’s daily lives. We try to observe the nature of places to understand their qualities, patterns and nuances. We propose interventions that might intensify the sense of place, healing and providing continuity with the existing context.
We give practical and useful advice that enables our clients to understand the design process and make informed decisions. We are committed to achieving best value for our clients through thoughtful design. We offer consultancy services to building owners and other professionals on Retrofit, low-energy and low-carbon construction, and have coauthored important guidance on these subjects including PAS 2035, the British Standard for Retrofitting dwellings.
Our architectural work is rooted in the wider activities of teaching, writing and research which allow us to combine thought and technical innovation with a practical approach to the realities of development and construction. We have a hands-on approach through which we continuously seek to improve the quality of construction on site.
Our work has been recognised by a number of awards, including the Mews House Deep Retrofit which won an RIBA Award in 2022, and the Dundon Passivhaus in Somerset which won RIBA Regional and National Awards and was a finalist for the prestigious Stephen Lawrence Prize. We were winners of the BD Sustainability Architect of the Year Award 2017.
We work closely with Interior Designer Emily Bizley and can offer a fully integrated service incorporating architecture, interior design and energy analysis.
from our journal
The word tone suggests both visual and aural sensations, a reminder that the feeling of a place is perceived through all the senses, not just what we see.
One of the most successful urban regeneration projects of recent years, Borneo Sporenburg shows how strategically planned high-density low-rise housing can make an atmospheric and desirable piece of city.
In our work we often extend the roof out beyond the building envelope to create sheltered outdoor spaces, ‘intermediate territories’ between inside and outside that blur the distinction between the house and the landscape.
Perhaps the most radical aspect of the landscape is the way food production takes centre stage, subverting the traditional hierarchies of the country estate. Once the owner of a country house might have demonstrated their taste and learning through references to classical mythology and architecture, but here they are showing it through the provenance of the food they grow. Showing off the exotic fruits grown on their estates was often part of a land-owner’s repertoire but it happened backstage in the walled garden. Here the new no-dig kitchen garden is on axis with the house and new apple orchards stretch off to the horizon.
The buildings of the past that we most admire tend to be those made in a way that represents something of the spirit of their age. We perceive beauty when we sense materials being worked with artistry and judgement by people working to the best of their abilities in ways appropriate to their times. So what is an appropriate way of building for our time, and what might it say about our culture to future generations?
Congratulations to Patrick McEvoy of our London office whose Pavement Art Gallery proposal is one of 3 winners in a competition organised by the London Festival of Architecture to design a temporary public space for a site within the square mile of the City of London.