HOUSE WOOD, BATH

“We looked extensively in to the German prefabricated housing market, and the minute we walked in to the Baufritz factory in Germany, we knew it would be very hard to go anywhere else. Their approach in terms of quality, sheer beauty, and healthy ecological building, is unsurpassed.  Baufritz is miles ahead in so many ways, and we feel so privileged to now own one of their first homes here in the UK.  

The complexity of the building operation was incredible, but it was completed with speed (ahead of schedule!), efficiency, immaculate organisation and attention to detail. The Baufritz team was wonderful, and the very experience was quite surreal. After a whole year of delay, frustration and problem after problem in the ground, the joy of having our home erected in just three days cannot be described! ”

Tiffany Wood

Background

Tiffany Wood has a passion for design and architecture that drove this project, with its numerous challenges, to achieve what is now a beautiful and highly individual home.  Tiffany and her husband Jonny grew up in Germany where they developed a love of German modernist architecture.  The couple wanted to build a house for their family (they have three children) that incorporated the very latest in German building technology. 

Jonny and Tiffany worked with local architects in Bath to design the building.  Once planning permission was granted and work on-site began and this is where the difficulties began.  The ground, which was on a very steep slope and surrounded by buildings on three sides, needed stabilising so work began to install contiguous piling and concrete retaining structures.  Planning issues meant work was also necessary to lower the plot which was based on very soft clay soil.  In early 2007 a retaining wall structure collapsed during a storm which made the already complex engineering works even more difficult.

While this was going on, Tiffany approached Baufritz to build it as she was insistent that she wanted a high quality German build partner for her project.  Tiffany certainly did very thorough research before opting for Baufritz, visiting the factory in Germany twice before making her decision.  Exactly one year from signing the contract with Baufritz, the Woods moved into their new home.

Featured on the Grand Designs programme on Channel 4, the house is a stunning contemporary style timber home partially clad in Bath stone in order to ensure that the building is sympathetic to the surrounding Bath architecture. A large double-storey glazed element to the front of the building makes the most of the magnificent views.  Inside the house a beautiful elliptical staircase forms the stunning centrepiece of this unique five-bedroom home. 

Oliver Rehm, Baufritz (UK) Managing Director says of this project:

“This has been an extremely successful project that has really pushed our building system beyond what we originally believed it could achieve.  Now we can take on much more complex projects with complete confidence that we can create homes for customers who desire a more unique and challenging structure.”

The Exterior

The house was inspired by Modernist German Bauhaus architecture.  A steep entrance drive leads up to the house via a landscaped garden to a large patio to the front of the building where steps lead to the grand entrance which comprises a double-storey, triple glazed lobby to the front entered via a huge double front door made of oak.  The house has a flat, gravelled roof and a coloured render on the external walls that match the bath stone cladding detail on the front facade. To the rear of the building there is another small garden.

The Interior

The house has been built on top of a complex basement structure that was constructed by Baufritz’s partner company, Glatthaar, Europe’s No 1 basement builders.  The basement, which is on two levels, incorporates a double garage, plant room, store room, wine store and a large playroom for the children.

Like the basement, the ground and first floors are also split-level.  On the ground floor, the lower half of the construction houses the lounge (which has a wood burning stove) and brightly coloured kitchen (which is on a raised platform), a utility room and pantry.  On the raised level of the ground floor is the entrance hall which leads to a cloakroom and WC and houses the elliptical staircase which dictates the unusual angles and room shapes in the house.  The curved wall of the staircase is covered in polished plaster by The Polished Plaster Company and painted in a heather colour giving the interior a highly personal feel.  The glazed entrance provides superb views across the patio to the valley below.  Also on this level is a further living room with balcony to the front, music room and study.  Flooring on this level consists of tiling in the kitchen and WC with natural oiled oak parquet in the lounge.  Doors are a mixture of untreated oak and walnut.  Window frames are on the whole made from spruce with the exception of the lounge windows which are made of oak.

Upstairs to the lower part of the first floor are three double bedrooms, two bathrooms and a linen room with a laundry chute to the utility room below.  On the upper level is the master bedroom with dressing room and en-suite bathroom, and a further double bedroom.

The whole house is beautifully lit.  Triple glazed windows follow the curve of the stair and a large skylight above the staircase as well as the glazed entrance means that the house maximizes natural light despite being enclosed on three sides.

The Utilities

Electrics – Cat 5 data cabling.

Heating – In addition to a wood burning stove in the lounge, Jonny and Tiffany have a gas condensing boiler radiators and underfloor heating.  The couple has 12m² solar panels on the flat roof to heat the water which is stored in a tank in the basement. 

Water - Baufritz also installed a rainwater harvesting system for the couple in the basement which will supply water to the toilets, washing machine and garden taps.

Ventilation - To ensure that they enjoy consistently good air quality and to save valuable heating energy through heat recovery, Baufritz installed 6 decentralised reverse fans (LTMs) with heat recovery in various locations through out the house.  The LTM extracts warm air from the room, passes it through the heat exchanger and the heat extracted from the air is stored in the unit. The fan changes direction and fresh air brought in from outside passes through the unit and is warmed by the stored heat before entering the room. In warm weather the effect is reversed, thus cooling the warmer outside air before it enters the house. The LTM units can be controlled from a central location, thus optimising performance. 

Thermal Efficiency

The external walls are 40cm thick (as is standard in all Baufritz homes) and packed with Baufritz’s patented wood shaving insulation which is proven to be highly thermally efficient.  The wood shavings are left over from the manufacturing process so waste is minimised; they are protected from fire, fungus and pests using a natural treatment made from soda and whey. The use of the Baufritz wall construction also dramatically reduces energy consumption.  This can be shown in three ways:

Energy loss through thermal transfer is only 0.16 W/m²K compared to 0.45 W/m²K in a conventional brick wall.  This figure is 0.13 W/m²K for the rendered facade of this particular building.

1. Energy consumption level per annum is only 40 kWh/m² in a Baufritz house compared to 250 kWh/m² in a typical UK house
2. Heating Oil consumption per annum is only 4 litres/m² in this house compared to 25 litres/m² in a typical UK house

These thick walls are breathable which ensures that condensation is removed from the atmosphere faster than it is generated, making the living environment inside the house comfortable and fresh.  Air tightness is a crucial factor in any home energy consumption. Baufritz design each home with windows and doors already in place, the fit is perfect, resulting in excellent air tightness.