by ‘Wuduhus’ stands on the flat marshland of Ramsey Heights
Cambridge based company Mole Architects construct an ‘upside down’ residence, ‘Wuduhus’, below the standards of ‘passive house’. Located in the flat marshland of Ramsey Heights in the United Kingdomthe construction forms a facade Wood cladding and an inverted pediment Roof. The longest side of the building faces south to take advantage of the sun’s rays, so the construction of a ‘butterfly’ roof is essential, along with the use of high eaves to ensure privacy.
The design concept of the “inverted” house arranges all living functions on the top level of the volume. The first floor comprises an open plan kitchen, dining and living area, a master bedroom with moorland views and a west facing balcony. The lower level consists of a garage, study, utility room and guest bedroom. The structure, intended to accommodate the future living conditions of users, incorporates a wheelchair lift into the plan and attaches low-placed power sockets throughout. In addition, the guest room can be managed as a nursing staff living unit.
Wuduhus by Mole Architects | all images by Matthew Smith Architectural Photography
The residence is reminiscent of typical moorland farm barns
Extraction from typical fen barns, the design team at Mole Architects applies wood paneling on the exterior, composing rough, overlapping larch planks on the upper level of the structure and finer, white-stained wood below. The palette of materials references the local shacks and stacks of vegetable pallets found scattered around the moors. The larch paneling is roughly sawn, changing to a finer, smooth wood paneling. Cut pieces of trim were reused for garden planters.
The construction of the dwelling follows the principles of the passive house design software to meet the strict energy consumption requirements. The highly insulated frame, supplied by Beattie Passive, avoids installing central heating. The house uses solar energy, which requires minimal additional heat sources on winter days. A mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system is built into the construction, drawing in stale humid air from bathrooms and kitchens and passing the air through a heat exchanger. The process preheats fresh air with only minor heat losses.
the construction forms an inverted gabled roof
The outside consists of rough, overlapping larch boards
The larch cladding is rough-sawn and changes to a finer, smoothly finished wood cladding
