Hawkes Architecture

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Local Materials A Sense of Place

At Hawkes Architecture we are passionate that our buildings feel rooted to the unique qualities of their individual place. We think it’s important to understand the specific characteristics of each site before determining what palette of materials and techniques are appropriate to compliment the architecture and landscape.


The first example is ‘Green Fox Farm’. Located between a golf course and a SSSI near Cambridge, the property is clad with locally sourced English cedar which enables the building to assimilate within the treeline, the rolling arable fields and grassy meadows.

Next is, ‘Sulby’ in Northamptonshire. The site is located in the middle of a wooded glade and as such the pallet for this project is predominantly hard wood timber shingle, a beautiful natural cladding material that will age gracefully over time and compliment the woodland setting.

‘Tunwold’ is a home set within an old quarry within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The scheme comprises three principle architectural elements; modest structures which redefine the historic curtilage and ensure wider contextual views are maintained & enhanced, a bedroom wing set within the sloping former quarry which itself acts as a device to mark this aspect of the life’s history. The third architectural element is a crisply detailed contemporary pavilion form containing primary living accommodation. The form of this building, when viewed from the distant public realm, would recede into the landscape much like existing agricultural buildings & farmsteads seen in the area. Each architectural element has its own unique palette of materials & details which respond to these distinct characteristics of the site.

‘Water Lane’, with its undulating parametric peg tiled roof, draws upon the undulating topography of deeply incised ghyll valleys and ancient woodland clearings and fuses this with the characteristic old peg tiled barns whose rooflines ripple under the weight of tiles and time. We’ve sought to embrace and exaggerate these qualities, adding a theme of Dali’s melted clocks where we have felt it appropriate to celebrate a view or grab some direct sunlight into the building.

Our ‘Tree House’ project, built within a long established woodland block on the edge of a small Cotswold village, the property will be clad with a combination of charred timber and bronze to help the building blend seamlessly into its landscape setting. The predominantly elevated structure serves to blur the lines of the building and retain low level views between tree trunks across & through the site.

Garden area of Green Fox Farm, a Para 80, energy efficient passive house. Another grand design by Hawkes Architecture.
Garden view of Sulby a Para 80 , energy efficient passive house. Another grand design by Hawkes Architecture.
Entrance to Tunwold, a Para 80 energy efficient passive house. Another grand design by Hawkes Architecture.

At Hawkes Architecture we are passionate that our buildings feel rooted to the unique qualities of their individual place. We think it’s important to understand the specific characteristics of each site before determining what palette of materials and techniques are appropriate to compliment the architecture and landscape.


The first example is ‘Green Fox Farm’. Located between a golf course and a SSSI near Cambridge, the property is clad with locally sourced English cedar which enables the building to assimilate within the treeline, the rolling arable fields and grassy meadows.

Next is, ‘Sulby’ in Northamptonshire. The site is located in the middle of a wooded glade and as such the pallet for this project is predominantly hard wood timber shingle, a beautiful natural cladding material that will age gracefully over time and compliment the woodland setting.

‘Tunwold’ is a home set within an old quarry within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The scheme comprises three principle architectural elements; modest structures which redefine the historic curtilage and ensure wider contextual views are maintained & enhanced, a bedroom wing set within the sloping former quarry which itself acts as a device to mark this aspect of the life’s history. The third architectural element is a crisply detailed contemporary pavilion form containing primary living accommodation. The form of this building, when viewed from the distant public realm, would recede into the landscape much like existing agricultural buildings & farmsteads seen in the area. Each architectural element has its own unique palette of materials & details which respond to these distinct characteristics of the site.

‘Water Lane’, with its undulating parametric peg tiled roof, draws upon the undulating topography of deeply incised ghyll valleys and ancient woodland clearings and fuses this with the characteristic old peg tiled barns whose rooflines ripple under the weight of tiles and time. We’ve sought to embrace and exaggerate these qualities, adding a theme of Dali’s melted clocks where we have felt it appropriate to celebrate a view or grab some direct sunlight into the building.

Our ‘Tree House’ project, built within a long established woodland block on the edge of a small Cotswold village, the property will be clad with a combination of charred timber and bronze to help the building blend seamlessly into its landscape setting. The predominantly elevated structure serves to blur the lines of the building and retain low level views between tree trunks across & through the site.

Materials

Defining a building’s character

Wherever we are designing a new house our research into the site’s defining character inevitably includes a study of materials, textures, tones & colours. In our work we seek to reinforce local distinctiveness through deploying locally distinctive materials but often in an exploratory way.

Below we have featured some images from our ‘Foxbury Lane’ project. The site is predominantly grass pasture adjacent to the South Downs National Park and next to several undulations in the landscape that are the result of historic flint extraction. Another characteristic of this particular landscape are farmstead complexes contained and unified within a perimeter compound boundary wall.

Our conceptual approach was to take the two distinctly different characteristics of a flint nodule; White soft & curvy on the outside and dark, hard & sharp on the inside. We then ‘flipped’ these characteristics so that the exterior of the building explored the dark, hard & sharp qualities of flint while ensuring that the building receded into the treeline when viewed from distance. On entering through the external hard shell, into a contained arrival courtyard, a striking contrast of white flowing organic shapes defines the interior and compliments the client’s eccentric desire to surprise and to enable their children to run around the house within a secure and contain environment. There’s even a slide from the first floor down into the rear garden courtyard. This simple concept enabled a whole architectural language to develop – and it’s all rooted entirely in the characteristics of that particular place and the idiosyncrasies of the client.

Foxbury Lane
Foxbury Lane a Para 80, energy efficient passive house. Another grand design by Hawkes Architecture.

Clay tiles

The timbrel vaulted arch

At Crossway we were able to use a traditional hand made peg tile company located only 4 miles away to make a different shaped tile for our arch. This led this small business to supply the same design of tile for Berry Brothers & Rudd’s wine vault in London! and thus securing a new innovation & income stream for this small cottage industry. The arch at Crossway is a beautiful case study into many dynamics of sustainability and it underpins the Hawkes ethos in so many ways.


We visited the tile yard, Babylon Tiles, with the structural engineers and together, found a way of designing a tile which would be able to use all of Babylon’s existing infrastructure & processing techniques. Tiles were air dried in poly tunnels & fired to meet demand, ensuring that no energy was wasted on over production.

Crossway
Garden view of the arch in bloom at Crossway, a Para 80 (PPS 7), energy efficient Passivhaus. Designed by Hawkes Architecture and featured on Channel 4's Grand Designs.
Living roof at Crossway, a Para 80 (PPS 7), energy efficient Passivhaus. Designed by Hawkes Architecture and featured on Channel 4's Grand Designs.

At Crossway we were able to use a traditional hand made peg tile company located only 4 miles away to make a different shaped tile for our arch. This led this small business to supply the same design of tile for Berry Brothers & Rudd’s wine vault in London! and thus securing a new innovation & income stream for this small cottage industry. The arch at Crossway is a beautiful case study into many dynamics of sustainability and it underpins the Hawkes ethos in so many ways.


We visited the tile yard, Babylon Tiles, with the structural engineers and together, found a way of designing a tile which would be able to use all of Babylon’s existing infrastructure & processing techniques. Tiles were air dried in poly tunnels & fired to meet demand, ensuring that no energy was wasted on over production.

Crossway
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