Northbury
Northbury won “Best Small Housing Development” at the South East LABC Awards and was commended for the RIBA Downland Prize.
Northbury
A modern highly sustainable five-bedroom family home built in Folkestone, Kent.
Although contemporary in style the building’s use of coloured glass, self-coloured render and timber louvres combined with a curvy form are sensitive to the coastal location.
Built to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5, Northbury includes a modern central built-in wood burner and a 120m deep bore ground source heat pump. The benefits of south sun are maximised during the winter through large amounts of glazing. Excess solar gain is avoided through the timber louvres which cut out high angle sun in the summer.
To encourage shared family living a ‘corridor-less’ open plan space has been provided. Intimacy can be created when required by separating the spaces with sliding partitions.
The idea of a seamless flow between spaces has been used to connect indoor with outside. Sliding doors can be opened up blurring the boundary between garden and house. The two storey development utilises traditional strip foundations, solid floor slab with block work masonry cavity walls.