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The interior of Copper Bottom is all about those architectural chestnuts: space, light, order – and materials. The heart of the house is the lofty, luminous double-height gallery which serves as entrance hall, dining room, and stair lobby. And the focus of that space is the weighty exposed purple brick pier which acts as hearth, stair wall and thermal heat sink, helping to keep the house a steady temperature through the year.
For more pictures of the interiors at Copper Bottom visit https://adrianjames.com
@gc.interiors
#CopperBottom #doubleheightspace #design #interiordesign #lightfilled #views #copperbottom #brick #thermalmass
Copper Bottom is fully and holistically sustainable. With an array of 37 photo-voltaic panels on the roof generating up to 16kW, it is a habitable power station generating renewable energy well in excess of the modest demands of the building itself, which is a highly insulated and airtight passive house. The PV feeds a 20kWh battery and if any power needs to be drawn from the grid it can happen overnight when the grid is green.
The carbon footprint of the building’s construction is very low. There is minimal concrete in the ground, and above ground the superstructure is all carbon-capturing timber. The compact and efficient cuboid form is constructed from SIPs and then clad with a system of lightweight timber trusses supporting a plywood skin. This skin is in turn clad in 100% recycled copper.
#recycled #copper #sustainability #sustainablebuilding #sustainablebuildingmaterials #sustainablearchitecture #solarpower #solarpanels #sustainable #energyefficient #carboncapture #timber #insulation #battery
The dynamic sculptural form of Copper Bottom derives from the uses it serves. The design takes what is normally considered a constraint – the need to prevent summer solar gain - and turns it into an opportunity for architectural expression. The form acts as a brise-soleil on three facades and a porch on the fourth. The roof plane cantilevers far out to bar high summer sun from the large south-facing windows. The skin pushes out at the waist to protect the east and west facing windows from low sun. On the north facade the bulging waistline shelters the entrance.
#copper #selfbuild #sustainable #Oxford #architecture #design #brick #green #solar #brisesoleil #solargain #sunprotection
Copper Bottom, our highly original, zero carbon, copper-clad, self-build house, is complete and occupied.
Here it is, basking in rare autumnal sunshine.
We’ll post images over the next few days with words about its form, its function, its materials and its sustainability.
But if you can’t wait, visit our website page at adrianjames.com (there is a link in our bio).
With credit and thanks to the team that helped us successfully realise this unique project: @solid.engineering @cbgconsultantsltd @gc.interiors @timberinnovations @eco.lectrical @fisherstudiosuk @rooftekadvanceltd and Cotswold Metal Roofing
#copper #selfbuild #sustainable #Oxford #architecture #design #brick #green #solar
Our new girls’ house for Shrewsbury School is featured in the Architects’ Journal today.
Read the article via the link below or in our bio, including photos, plans and views from the architect, the client and the structural engineer @solid.engineering:
https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/adrian-james-architects-completes-arts-and-crafts-inspired-girls-boarding-house
The windows on our new boarding house are offset floor by floor in a syncopated rhythm which creates distinctive chequerboard façades. The purpose is to remove the sense of institution which more regular fenestration might instil. This might at first glance seem to be structurally challenging. In fact the precast stone surrounds to the openings provide sufficient width for the steel frame to run behind in straight vertical lines. Kudos to SOLID @solid.engineering for solving this.
@allbrickandstoneuk @shrewsburyschool @paveawaysltd
#shrewsbury #homefromhome #boarding #boardingschool #schoolbuildingdesign #engineering #design #gooddesign #brick
Our new girls’ house at Shrewsbury School sits on the edge of the historic campus where there are panoramic views over the river Severn. Our design makes the most of these views with a double-height moon door on the main internal communal space.
Follow the link in our bio to see more on our website.
@solid.engineering @shrewsburyschool @allbrickandstoneuk @paveawaysltd
#shrewsbury #brick #arches #homefromhome #design #schoolbuildingproject #moondoor #doubleheight
Queen Elizabeth Hall, the new girls’ house we designed at Shrewsbury School, is up and running. We won the competition in 2020, it was finished in 2023 and has just begun its second academic year with a full cohort of 70 girls. The school wanted a building which felt homely rather than institutional. We achieved this internally with a range of types and sizes of gathering space, and externally where the arched entrances, syncopated fenestration, steep-pitched roofs and tall ventilation stacks imbue the house with an Arts & Crafts air, in contemporary dress.
@solid.engineering @shrewsburyschool @allbrickandstoneuk @paveawaysltd
#shrewsbury #brick #arches #homefromhome #design #schoolbuildingproject
More planning news: permission just bagged for a new house besides the Thames in Shiplake.
Raised up a few steps to stay dry when the floods come. As they surely will.
A tripartite composition of dual-pitched gabled bays whose formal arrangement is counterpoised by a loose chequerboard pattern of materials and fenestration in a syncopated rhythm with high notes.
#planning #planningpermission #planningpermissiongranted #bytheriver #futureproofing #highnotes #bythethames #riverside
Our proposal for a new apartment block beside the main road into Oxford is in for planning permission.
The prominent urban corner site is crying out for a building which steps up to the plate: high quality, high density, highly sustainable housing, bang in line with the new government’s planning policies.
#sustainable #newhousing #sustainablehousing #Oxford #planning #qualityhousing #design
The laser-cut prepatinated copper sign with our custom stencil font is now installed with a bright copper back box.
Here it is, sunlit by day and backlit by night.
#copper #sunlight #nightlight #brick
Phew. A concrete gazebo; just what’s needed. Shading from the baking sun during the day, and thermal mass to keep cool later while sipping sundowners.
#keepingcool #shade #shadegarden #design #coolconcrete #architecture #oxford
Raw brick, natural oak and a brushed stainless steel handrail. All bathed in August sun for a glimpse of our latest finished project. More soon.
@gc.interiors
#brick #oakflooring #brushedsteel #stairs #stairsandsteps #interiordesign #architecture #Oxford #newproject #lightfilled
With its barrel-vaulted ceiling this light-filled space remains a joy to inhabit a quarter of a century after we built it.
#lightfilledspace #architecture #oxford #design #books #interiordesign #interior #bookfilled
We won consent for this house in the woods back in 2020. Stuff happened, the site was sold. But hey, the new owners love the design and are now self-building it. The foundations are in, the SIPS frame is coming soon. It is rising, phoenix-like.
#selfbuild #inthewoods #architect
Today is National Take Your Cat To Work Day. Yes, really.
This is Monika’s feline empress Sia.
Quite magnificent but hasn’t really bought into the AJA work ethic.
#bringyourcattoworkday #catsatwork #catitecture
Why is watching big stuff move through the air so mesmerising? Here is a clip of half of a (soon to be wonderfully rusty) steel shed being installed at one of our projects today. Enjoy.
#rust #rustysteel #steel #steelshed #shed
The AJA office is powered by frequent Yum Yums. Can you spot their influence in our latest piece of arch-itecture?
#architecture #yumyum #design
First glimpse of the latest new house we are submitting for planning.
#sustainable #ecohouse #zinc #woodland #surroundedbynature #lightandspace #designmyhome #architect #architecture
An AJA field trip to Cambridge to visit old and new architectural delights, and to investigate whether their town planning really is a decade ahead of Oxford.
20 buildings, 4 housing estates and 35,000 steps later, what was the stand-out moment? Ta-da! Churchill College: brilliant ‘60’s campus, beguiling new quad (Cowan Court) and a perfect bijou essay in Brutalist poetics – the college chapel with its awesome use of toplight and raw materiality. Quite humbling.
#toplight #brutalism #lightandspace #churchillcollegecambridge