Art Fund Pavilion | competition entry | Woking, UK | 2009 Urban Intensity | ongoing research | Worldwide | 2008 - present City Hall | honourable mention | Sejong, Korea | 2008 Foot Bridge | competition entry | Sheffield, UK | 2007 Asian Cultural Centre | competition entry | Gwangju, Korea | 2005 Mountain Hut | competition entry | California, USA | 2003
A total of 145 homes will be built on the three- hectare site. There are 11 house-types ranging from two bedroom maisonettes to five bedroom family houses, providing a mixture of affordable housing and larger private dwellings in two- and three-storey houses around a central street. The volume of the house is adaptable both in terms of orientation, regional variation of scale, proportion and material and is conceived for life-long living, with an inherent flexibility both in the short and long term. Internal layouts are free-span – ie without structural pillars and walls, maximising flexibility. To further enhance the range of choice, the Team envisages a range of add-on elements to give distinct identity. These elements include canopies, balconies, planted walls and study rooms.
The houses use Modern Methods of Construction, taking advantage of a range of technologies and processes involving various forms of supply chain specifications, prefabrication and off-site assembly. Not only does this reduce construction time but it minimises waste and energy used in the transportation of materials to site by eliminating the need for heavy machinery and construction traffic.
Modern Methods of Construction allow components to be manufactured off-site, either as modules or ‘flat-pack’ for ease of transportation. Not only does this decrease construction times, it also reduces waste and energy used in the transportation of materials to site. Even without the distinctive EcoHat, the Oxley Woods houses represent a reduction of approximately 27 per cent in carbon dioxide emissions, compared with a conventional new-build house of similar size. This reduction rises to almost 40 per cent with the inclusion of the EcoHat, 50 per cent when the EcoHat is attached to a hot water system, and more than 70 per cent if the EcoHat utilises geothermal energy sources through a local bore hole.
Each house has a timber frame, made using wood from sustainable forests. The walls are ‘Trespa’ panel cladding, comprising 70 per cent softwood from European renewable forest, inert binding agents and dyes which are metal free. Effective insulation made from recycled paper together with sealed glass panel windows contribute to the air-tight, heat-saving build, while the membrane roofing material and watertight external wall cladding result in increased rain water run-off - which is diverted to large capacity collecting butts. Cladding panel sizes were optimised to reduce waste – leaving only 15 per cent wastage in the manufacture, which is recycled at source and even the delivery was organised to use the most carbon-friendly modes of transport and the quickest routes. This superstructure takes one week to manufacture in the factory before travelling to site as a ‘flat-pack’. The external envelope is assembled in just two days (without the need for scaffolding) to form a waterproof shell. The interiors are completed in two weeks.
Status: Built | Location: Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes, England| Year: 2005 - 2008 | Architect: RSHP | Budget: 15 million GBP | Developer: George Wimpey South Midlands | Client: English Partnerships / Taylor Wimpey | Manufacturer: Wood Newton Ltd | Service Engineer: RYBKA | Landscape Architect: Gillespies LLP | Construction Cost: from £60,000 per unit | Site Area: 3.5 hectares | Floor Area: Approx. 11,136 m² | Number of Houses: 145 Houses including 30 percent affordable houses
