Long House: super low energy home

A new?free-flowing and light-filled?home, with?high quality spaces which are warm and comfortable,?delivered with?incredibly low energy requirements by adopting Passivhaus standards.

The clients requested a home to retire to which would reflect their love of local heritage, but with a contemporary interpretation which is true to today. ?The home is to be comfortable and capable of supporting their potentially changing needs as they grow older, while also wishing to entertain friends and family throughout the year.

The proposal is a contemporary Suffolk Long House, with a simple elongated form, a central and vaulted entrance, and brickwork textures which reflect how Long Houses are typically built-up over many generations.

The site is located near to a number of Listed buildings, and this approach creates a locally-sensitive property, which was strongly supported by the local Conservation Officer.?Equally, as the Long House is such a simple building shape, it is both more economic to construct and inherently demands lower energy while in use.

The front elevation faces north and has fewer windows with a playful rhythm to their positions.?Window positions and sizes generally have been carefully considered to provide daylight and views, without excessive heat-loss in winter or heat-gain in summer.

The rear of the property includes a single-storey ‘pavilion’, with extensive sliding glass to access the garden and draw in natural light and warmth. ?An external canopy over the rear terrace will provide solar shading, while the polished concrete ground floor will act as a thermal heat sink.

The house is constructed as a prefabricated and fully-insulated timber-frame construction, with average U-Value to the roof/walls of 0.11W/m2K, and an overall air tightness of 0.6 air changes per hour. ?

The intelligent heating and ventilation system by Naked House adopts a large thermal store supported by solar panels during the warmer months, and a log-burner with integrated back-boiler during cooler months. ?Coupled with a whole-house heat recovering ventilation system, the space heating demands will be negligible, and is expected to be less than the 15kWh/sqm for Passivhaus Classic standards.

“Without Cocoon’s?expertise we would never have got a building to this standard. So much thought and care has gone into the project looking at our needs and the location, bringing elements of historic buildings from the area into a modern house.” - Kathy and Tim, Long House.