Black House in Prickwillow
The region of Ely in the English County of Cambridgeshire north of London is characterised by the drained moor landscape of the “Cambridgeshire Fens” and many old country barns with dark cement-based fiber board exteriors, which all seem as if a giant had rolled the dice on a flat surface.
Their exterior has been adapted by architect Meredith Bowles for his design of the “Black House” in Prickwillow: the entire façade and the roof are clad in black corrugated cement-based fibreboard siding. The vertically applied siding makes the slender proportions of the house seem yet more slender and tall, emphasised by the fact that the house is built on stilts. The dominant colour black of the façade is interrupted by windows and doors in varying sizes, the colours of which provide a playful accentuation.
Only exceptions are the roof windows, which adapt to the dark building exterior. The building interiors present themselves as unexpectedly light, illuminated with natural light in abundance through the windows, arranged according to the movement of the sun and the view of the exterior. A central core consisting of kitchen, bathrooms and staircase is surrounded by living room and bedrooms as well as Meredith Bowles’ architectural office “Mole Architects”.
Colour accentuations in green and pink continue the ideas present in the façade into the interior. The building, having received the RIBA Award 2004, among other awards, consists to a large part of recyclable materials and is equipped with a heat exchange unit, using the warm air vented from the interiors to pre-heat the fresh air intake and hot water.
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