Is it possible to change the look of a well-known, national landmark for practical reasons? The result speaks for itself. The basic shape of the Hunsett Mill cottage has been transformed into a friendly and environmentally sustainable ghost of the original; behind the old building a new one unfolds discreetly like a beautiful shadow in shape of an accordion-like extension.
Architects:
Photographer:
Contractor:
Client/investor:
Location:
Country:
Awards:
Year of completion: Area: |
(extension and landscaping):
ACME Architects (Friedrich Ludewig,
Stefano Dal Piva et al)
Cristobal Palma & ACME
Willow Builders
Private, 2 couples
Chapel Field Road, Stalham,
Norfolk Broads
United Kingdom
RIBA Manser Medal (2010)
Sustainability Awards, (2009)
2009
215 m2 |
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Is it possible to change the look of a well-known, national landmark for practical reasons? The result speaks for itself. The basic shape of the Hunsett Mill cottage has been transformed into a friendly and environmentally sustainable ghost of the original; behind the old building a new one unfolds discreetly like a beautiful shadow in shape of an accordion-like extension.
Architects:
Photographer:
Contractor:
Client/investor:
Location:
Country:
Awards:
Year of completion: Area: |
(extension and landscaping):
ACME Architects (Friedrich Ludewig,
Stefano Dal Piva et al)
Cristobal Palma & ACME
Willow Builders
Private, 2 couples
Chapel Field Road, Stalham,
Norfolk Broads
United Kingdom
RIBA Manser Medal (2010)
Sustainability Awards, (2009)
2009
215 m2 |
| |
| “The River Ant could be compared with a motorway during the weekends when the traffic on the river gets really busy. The thing about the location, which is very secluded and miles away from a public road or footpath, is that from one particular spot – at the bend of the river – the old mill and cottage are fully visible and create the most picturesque view. So you won’t see any cars or pedestrians for days but at weekends, one boat after the other comes around the bend with people taking pictures. This makes it very much a public domain and therefore the solution was to hide the new extension as much as possible from that perspective and to limit the height so it would not be taller than the existing small cottage,” says architect Friderich Ludewig from ACME Architects.
Location and background history
As one of the most iconic buildings in England, Hunsett Mill is much more than just a regional landmark. At the River Ant near Stalham in Norfolk (UK), Hunsett Mill is set in a remote, wild and quiet spot; it takes three hours to reach it from London by car and the nearest neighbour is barely visible on the horizon. For decades the mill has been painted and photographed innumerable times; it is probably one of best known landscape motives in Britain and adorns everything from chocolate boxes to an endless number of tourist and folklore items. And the picturesque location itself on the banks of the River Ant, a place well known by local sailors and tourists, made it hard to believe that anything could be changed here.
The main idea was to create an extension to the old cottage that fitted in as well as any local old building would do, using a simple, strong and poetic idea and local materials to make it look like a shadow of the existing house. The shape itself, which could be compared to a piece of folded foil or a zigzag origami work, gently snakes behind the tiny red, brick cottage and makes as little disturbance as possible. ACME architects wanted to recreate the original view from the bend of the river so that, to visitors approaching from there, the extension would be a barely visible ‘shadow’ (a three-pitched pavilion) behind the old brick cottage.
Environmental considerations are evident in the planning process for such a setting and it was a clear wish from the beginning to make the extension as ecologically responsible as possible. Emphasis was on the carbon cost of the construction and the overall embodied energy expenditure at the time of construction. The architectural challenge was to get rid of the cumulative extensions that had been added to the Hunsett Mill without disturbing its original charm − and ACME Architects turned out to be the right partner in this complicated rebuilding process. The architects persuaded the owners to keep the original old cottage but otherwise start from scratch.
Living zones and interior
The floor plan shows the different living zones. The zigzag, extended wing is divided into different areas with a flexible and open flow, whereas the ground floor contains the more public areas – entrance, extra toilet, TV lounge plus living, dining and kitchen zones. The upper floor, which is somehow more of an open balcony or mezzanine floor, is for more private use. Here are bedrooms and bathrooms with soundproof walls that ensure peace and privacy. The old part gently blends into the new extension, together creating distinct spaces, linked like pearls on a string.
Daylight and windows
Before there were no links between the isolated rooms in the old cottage, but after the renovation a spatial openness and flow have been created. Before you could only see the windmill from one window, with hardly any view of the river − but after, the wetlands outside have become ever present. New windows in the facades permit extraordinary views of the river and the surrounding landscape and create a better connection − from small views framing specific motifs from the low bathroom windows to the total, full-size window view from the dining area that allows everyone to see the mill tower in its full height.
The windows in the original cottage have been replaced with slightly bigger ones to make sure there would be a clear view to the river. Plenty of light floods in and brings the outside indoors much more than in a traditional house. At the same time, a reflective surface on most of the windows allows for privacy indoors, whilst being as discreet as possible from the outside.
Since most of the windows in the house are fixed because of their huge dimensions (maximum one operable window per room), the VELUX roof windows on the first floor provide not only more daylight to the bedrooms, but also natural ventilation in the rooms with double height. The house is rather small, so roof windows were an excellent solution to bring light into some of the bedrooms. The low ceiling height at ground level, except for the kitchen’s dramatic double high openness, creates a cosy but still open atmosphere where both the couples and their children can be together in the same space. Upstairs, large roof and facade windows, mirrors and wooden walls close off the rooms under the peaks and valleys of the roof, making the bedrooms appear bigger than they actually are.
The windmill, one of the last six windmills in the UK, has been carefully restored. At present the mill building itself is not used for any purpose, but it may be turned into living space with even more bedrooms in the future. Since the cottage is rented out most of the year, this might very well be convenient sometime in the future. At the moment only the owners’ children go there to play from time to time. When the house was finished, five architects from ACME moved in for two weeks to plan and plant the vegetation that allows the garden to blend into the surrounding wetlands.
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