AONB Countryside Centre
An exciting opportunity to design an exemplar development, showcasing green principles, design and materials. The brief required a user friendly, accessible building with low running costs, promoting good practice and ‘dark skies’ design. The final concept for the rural visitors centre incorporates a cafe, training and seminar office, set around a central courtyard, pond/ swale, vegetable and herb gardens. A sedum roof canopy forms a covered working space.
A clear environmental strategy for the design includes:
- Sustainability provisions
- Super insulated building envelope
- Natural cross ventilation – Summer cooling
- Landscape pond provides climate control to courtyard and rainwater collection for plants
- Solar thermal and PV panels and woodchip boiler provide energy efficient electricity and heating
- Green roof for rainwater attenuation and biodiversity
- Barn Owl and Bat boxes
