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Health & Wellbeing

Wellness in the Home

At Hawkes Architecture, we design homes that support health, wellbeing, and comfort—naturally. From abundant daylight and natural ventilation to toxin-free materials and strong connections to landscape, every detail is considered to enhance the way people feel and live in our buildings. Sustainable design isn’t just about energy—it’s about people.

Hallway at Echo Barn, a Para 55 energy efficient passive house. Another grand design by Hawkes Architecture.

At Hawkes Architecture, we design homes that support health, wellbeing, and comfort—naturally. From abundant daylight and natural ventilation to toxin-free materials and strong connections to landscape, every detail is considered to enhance the way people feel and live in our buildings. Sustainable design isn’t just about energy—it’s about people.

Ventilation

Our first principle when designing a new building is to look at the Fabric First and ensure that the energy required is minimised. Everything else flows from this first principle. Insulation aside, inclusion of a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) system to provide a constant supply of fresh air while recovering the heat from extracted ‘stale’ air helps to reduce energy consumption and maintain healthy air quality within the home.


MVHR works by extracting “stale” air from spaces which generate smells; kitchen, bathrooms & WCs while supplying clean “heat-recovered” fresh air to bedrooms & living spaces.

Typically, this means that every 2 hours there’s a full volume change of air within the home. This effectively eliminates stale smells, maintains healthy CO2 levels, reduces & regulates Relative Humidity enhancing human comfort while reducing bacteria & viruses within the home.

MVHR systems continuously extract moist, stale and polluted air, passing it over a heat exchanger that recovers and retains the heat that would otherwise be lost to the outside atmosphere. The heat from ‘stale’ ‘smelly’ air is transferred to incoming cold fresh air. The incoming air is also filtered to remove dust & pollen.

This system significantly reduces the energy required to heat a home during winter months while retaining a constant supply of fresh air without the need to keep windows open during the colder months.

MVHR = Lower heating bills and a home which always smells fresh & comfortable even with the windows closed!

The plant room at Headlands, a Para 55, energy efficient passive house. Another grand design by Hawkes Architecture.

Our first principle when designing a new building is to look at the Fabric First and ensure that the energy required is minimised. Everything else flows from this first principle. Insulation aside, inclusion of a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) system to provide a constant supply of fresh air while recovering the heat from extracted ‘stale’ air helps to reduce energy consumption and maintain healthy air quality within the home.


MVHR works by extracting “stale” air from spaces which generate smells; kitchen, bathrooms & WCs while supplying clean “heat-recovered” fresh air to bedrooms & living spaces.

Typically, this means that every 2 hours there’s a full volume change of air within the home. This effectively eliminates stale smells, maintains healthy CO2 levels, reduces & regulates Relative Humidity enhancing human comfort while reducing bacteria & viruses within the home.

MVHR systems continuously extract moist, stale and polluted air, passing it over a heat exchanger that recovers and retains the heat that would otherwise be lost to the outside atmosphere. The heat from ‘stale’ ‘smelly’ air is transferred to incoming cold fresh air. The incoming air is also filtered to remove dust & pollen.

This system significantly reduces the energy required to heat a home during winter months while retaining a constant supply of fresh air without the need to keep windows open during the colder months.

MVHR = Lower heating bills and a home which always smells fresh & comfortable even with the windows closed!

“

A healthy home a healthy mind

Cosy

Winter warmth

As efficient as our properties are, UK winters are harsh and our passive houses will still need a primary heat source for space heating and the hot water system. The primary difference between our homes and the average UK property, is the length of time that this heat source will be required! Typically for just a couple of months and you will be resilient to future increases to energy costs as our bespoke homes are specified with, carbon neutral renewable heating systems. Plus, gone are the days of yo-yoing temperatures as you walk through your home. Passive houses make the most of the glazed solar gain and remain a constant temperature throughout, 24 hours a day.

Refreshing

Cool summers

Our homes are designed to work extremely well during the summer, without the need for air conditioning. Whilst sunny summer days do prove challenging, we are able to solve this problem, following the principals of fabric first design. The summer sun path is a lot higher in the sky, so natural window shading is one simple solution and with good quality glazing and a high degree of thermal mass we are able to keep internal spaces cool and airy. Our homes are also always naturally insulated with hygroscopic materials that absorb and release water as a gas, from and to the air. Materials with good hygroscopic capacity have the ability to stabilise a building’s humidity, reducing surface condensation and in certain situations, absorbing moisture altogether.

In the illustrated images we have shown three ways we have achieved this. At Water Lane (left) we have large canopy overhangs that shade the internal spaces, and at Echo Barn (right), we used a Brise Soleil around the largely glazed barn to shade the summer sun.

Tranquil

A connection with nature

Whist our properties are dynamic, to live in they are tranquil, beautiful, airy spaces that engage with nature. Our design philosophy is always to take cues from the local environment and embrace the natural typography.

Bigbury Hollow a PPS 7, energy efficient passive house. Another grand design by Hawkes Architecture.

Whist our properties are dynamic, to live in they are tranquil, beautiful, airy spaces that engage with nature. Our design philosophy is always to take cues from the local environment and embrace the natural typography.