#river studio

First of the Witch of Three

As the existing building is in Greenbelt, we were restricted to keeping the existing volume but the simple form of the building helped us in achieving Passivhaus standards.  

As a practice we have always been interested in sustainable design (more eco-minimilism than eco-bling) and we have pushed it in all the projects we have worked on.  We came across Passivhaus over the last couple of years and after attending some interesting lectures and visiting some Passivhaus buildings felt it was a good balance of helping the environment as well as creating a comfortable internal environment for users.  Our new studio project gave us a great opportunity to get hands on experience with Passivhaus as well as being able to monitor the performance once the build is complete.

Key to the design for the new studio and achieving the Passivhaus standard has been the use of Kingspan TEK and Unidek Aero Structural Insulated Panels for the main fabric of the building. The practice has extensive experience of working with timber frame and SIPS systems having completed both large new build primary schools and one off contemporary houses utilising the technology and as such they were a natural choice for our own studio. We worked with engineer Bob Johnson and Lowfield Timber Frames to design the SIPS panels which wrap around the existing steel frame providing a number of benefits over other forms of construction. We were able to simultaneously provide a high level of insulation, minimise wall thickness and structurally span between the existing primary steel frame, negating the need for additional secondary steel structure all whilst allowing the provision of a continuous airtight layer on the internal face of the panels in line with Passivhaus principles The panels are due to arrive on site on 6th June once the structure has been stripped back and prepared and will mark the first time that the final mass and apertures of the new studio are visible on site. Here are a couple of screen grabs of the SIPS design model provided by Lowfield timber together with a photo of a sample of the Kingspan Unideck Aero roof panels, this sample is only half as thick as the panels being used on the studio, they will have twice as much insulation!

River Studio was originally a packing shed for a market garden and has since been used as a hydraulic engineering workshop. It takes its name from the tributary of the River Avon which flows along the boundary of its site.

Our new studio is starting on site today. We have bought an unloved mid 20th century asbestos clad shed in greenbelt which we are going to turn into a passivhaus studio for our practice.