last updated 22nd Oct 04
by 4ecotips.com

Eco-house gets top architectural prize.

Described as an eco-house of exceptional standards, the Black House at Prickwillow in Cambridgeshire, built from pre-painted corrugated fibre-cement sheeting, has won the RIBA Manser Medal 2004.

With a “barn-like” quality it took just four days to erect the lightweight timber-frame structure on concrete piled foundations, which allowed the rest of the house to be completed in wind- and weather-tight working conditions. The whole building programme took eight months from start to finish and cost just over £170,000.

Designed by Mole Architects, apparently his one-off house is seen as an “exemplar to the house building industry of how to design a low- cost, generous accommodation, low-energy dwelling, where every square quarter metre of floor space justifies its cost. As a bonus it has magnificent views towards Ely Cathedral over the Fens, whose stringent scenery is complemented by the house’s austere, ordered, but friendly appearance.

The house was hand-built by the architect. It’s low-energy but not in the “tokenistic way of so many” instead the energy-savings are embodied in the entire design. The structure and cladding is all softwood , which the architect claims produces a net gain in oxygen because it absorbs CO2 in growth. Most of the timber is recycled, as is all the insulation in the form of newspapers.

Heating is by a heat pump which generates heat three times the value of the electrical input (currently wind-generated, but the system can be adapted to solar when the price of photovoltaics falls). The house is also well sealed.

The windows are double glazed with argon-filled cavities, and a low-emissivity coating on the glass to reflect heat back into the house. The heat loss at minus 4deg C is less than 5 kilowatts for the entire house.

The five-bedroom Black House is said to be a worthy winner because it has so many lessons for speculative housebuilders. To have built the 150 sq m house for only £174,000, excluding the cost of the site and professional fees, is impressive enough. To have done so using prefabricated timber components with all their obvious advantages of precision and speed of construction, coupled with such a high level of energy conservation, makes this an exceptional “model” for others.

Most praiseworthy of all, however, is that the house has such a distinctive character, so different from its conventional neighbours and yet so appropriate to its rural location.”