Hackworthy

These garden structures were conceived as a ‘family’ of elements to create a discreet series of buildings with a clear hierarchy of function. Finishes are simple and detailing crisp to reflect a clean, stripped down vernacular language. A primarily dark material palette helps conceal the buildings beneath the dark, shady tree canopies over and minimise any visual contrast with the naturalistic surroundings. The main studio is expressed as a simple pitched roof structure. The asymmetric pitch aims to push the ridge to the rear of the building and minimise its apparent mass when viewed from below to the south. The southern eaves have been cantilevered forward to shelter the balcony, provide shade to the south facade in summer and push the glazed face back into shadow. Heating demands are minimised through high insulation levels and good air tightness standards. Although the south elevation appears to be predominantly glazed (to maximise the occupants enjoyment of their location) the remaining elevations are well insulated with only very small windows. A deep roof overhang to the south elevation assists in shading the facade below from strong, high level summer sun whilst allowing solar gain to assist in heating the building during the cooler months when the sun is lower.