Mill Hide
By Poulson Architecture
Client Tim and Elizabeth Poulson
Award RIBA East Award 2025
The award winner tells us: "Poulson Architecture said about the project: "The landscape, character, and the diverse ecology of the site in the countryside provided an opportunity for the design of a new house, at one with the natural surroundings, which extends and amplifies the habitat for the adjoining Nature Reserve.
The concept is essentially for a single sculptural form incorporating all the amenities for a country dwelling rather than the more common style expressed in a range of building forms. The design solution is driven by a synthesis between a sculptural form and the parameters for a dwelling where neither should be compromised and both elements are able to excel."
The jury says: "The house benefits from good airtightness; insulation above Building Regulations standards; a single air-source heat pump servicing the whole house, cleverly screened behind cladding; a mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) system throughout; spacious plant rooms for future flexibility; thin film photovoltaics; and lots of passive solar shading. The simple geometry, with the house a square in plan, creates a beneficial form factor for all these measures.
The site is carefully located on the edge of a magical RSPB nature reserve. The ambition was to avoid interfering with this natural setting beyond the boundaries of the villa 鈥� and to enjoy the views into it from each orientation of the house."
Contractor Poulson Development
Landscape architect Robert Tregay
Ecology MKA
Environmental/M&E engineer Atamate Consultancy
Structural engineer Davies Maguire
Gross internal area 507尘虏
