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London based architects Eldridge Smerin has designed and constructed a kit house in Ulcombe, Kent. Here is some information by the architects, “The client’s brief for this residential project in Kent was to design a new contemporary family house of up to 400sqm to replace an existing bungalow. The construction was to utilize prefabrication to minimize on-site labor, to integrate green technology in a quiet and understated way and to optimize the environmental benefits of the building’s orientation seasonally.
Designed to be built over a five month period on an eleven acre meadow in Kent, this family house utilizes a kit of prefabricated components developed by Eldridge Smerin that whilst being simple to construct results in a sophisticated piece of architecture for a modest budget. The house comprises a series of rectangular volumes on two levels around a screened courtyard and includes an indoor swimming pool and a double garage.
The main volumes are formed from cross laminated solid timber panels erected on simple concrete footings which are finished with panels of slatted timber and glazed with units that incorporate trace heating to boost their thermal performance. Internally the structural timber panels have a waxed finish and are generally left exposed. The ground floor is polished concrete whilst the upper floors are timber. Internal spaces are formed from a combination of structural timber panel bracing walls and joinery units made off-site. The two levels of the house are linked by an open spiral staircase of plywood slats that also provides storage and forms a study area.”
