We're thrilled to be shortlisted for the BD Net Zero Architect of the Year Award, alongside a very strong line-up of practices taking thoughtful, ambitious, and meaningful approaches to net zero.
For us, this is an invitation to hold ourselves accountable, and to keep raising the bar for environmental architecture.
Congrats to everyone on the shortlist!
@weareahr@almanac_arch@hsapics@hlmarchitects@prewettbizleyarchitects
Thanks to @_bdonline_ and @ukgreenbuildingcouncil for the shortlisting.
Responsible Green Belt development at Orchard House.
Shortlisted for the RIBA North West Awards, Orchard House secured planning approval in an isolated Green Belt location, using Paragraph 84 of the NPPF and demonstrating "Very Special Circumstances" through exceptional design and ecological restoration.
The project's ecological strategy focuses on repairing the landscape and supporting local wildlife:
- Biodiversity: We introduced native, night-scented plants like Honeysuckle and Dog-rose to attract insects, supporting bat populations from the nearby ancient woodland.
- Integrated Habitats: Bat roosts are built directly into the open timber cladding system.
- Permeable Landscape: The garden prioritises naturalistic meadows and permeable paving over traditional lawn, with existing boundary hedges kept intact to maintain essential green corridors.
Rather than imposing on the Green Belt surroundings, Orchard House restores the land it sits on, reviving the orchard ecosystem for the site's human and non-human inhabitants.
Find out more at the link in bio.
Image by Jim Stephenson.
Oolite House has been shortlisted for RIBA South West & Wessex Awards!
The contemporary home is nestled into a sloping site, appearing as a modest single-storey home from street level, gradually revealing its three-storey form as it follows the fall of the land.
Local, natural materials reflect the surrounding ancient geology while minimising embodied carbon. Local stone blends with bordering dry stone walls and douglas fir cladding.
A central terrace forms the heart of the home, connecting living spaces across layered outdoor 'rooms'. A snug and supporting spaces are tucked further into the plan, making considered use of the natural topography.
Interiors by @yamstudios create a calm, timeless atmosphere, with bespoke joinery by @timgaudin
Thank you to @riba for the shortlisting. Find out more about the project on our website at the link in bio.
Images by @buildingnarratives
Where should these pieces go next? A festival, school, gallery, garden, or somewhere else? ✨
And that’s a wrap on Grand Designs Live!
Over the bank holiday weekend, our temporary plywood Architecture Advice Hub welcomed lots of curious visitors, big questions, and brilliant conversations about building differently.
The hub itself was built from pre-loved, flat-packed structures from our Box Library:
💎 The diamond cut-out columns once formed a travelling theatre in 2023
🔴 The colourful dotted stage boxes were part of a pop-up Parallel Parliament in 2025
🪵 Now, together, they became a temporary advice hub
This is what circular construction can look like:
deconstruction, not demolition
reuse, not refuse ♻️
Huge thanks to everyone who visited us and @studiobark at @granddesignslivelondon
By carving the open-plan living spaces of Oolite House into the natural slope, we’ve created a light-filled volume where the interior and the landscape become one.
The result is a space that feels both generous and grounded, framing the wooded valley beyond whilst maintaining a quiet, private sanctuary for family life.
It’s the connection to nature our clients dreamed of when leaving the city for the countryside.
Oolite House, shortlisted for RIBA South West Awards 2026.
Architecture: @studiobark
Interiors: @yamstudios
Joinery: @timgaudin
Video: @buildingnarratives
Shortlisted for the South West RIBA Awards 2026, the topography of Oolite House shapes its form and setting, nestling the home into the sloping site.
From the village, the home appears modest and understated, with single-store forms in natural timber and limestone. Peeking above the drystone wall and surrounding greenery.
Meet Oolite House.
Shortlisted for the RIBA South West Awards 2026, Oolite House is a study in designing sensitively.
From the gentle, natural textures, to the inconspicuous form from the street that follows the hillside, the design plays with restraint and openness.
Architecture: @studiobark
Interiors: @yamstudios
Joinery: @timgaudin
Images: @buildingnarratives
What if the future of housing starts small?
Join us from today till the 29th of May, at The Building Centre, for the ‘Small Scale, Big Ideas’ exhibition.
A month-long exhibition exploring how compact, thoughtful architecture can reshape the way we live, build and respond to the climate and housing crises.
The exhibition brings together twelve progressive practices working across housing, materials and experimental forms of construction, including U-Build and Studio Bark.
Our modular plywood boxes form part of the exhibition itself, creating temporary plinths and a U-Build stand where visitors can explore the system and discover projects spanning self-build homes, extensions, commercial fit-outs and community spaces.
Come and see it for yourself.
Small Scale, Big Ideas
The Building Centre, Main Gallery
5th to 29th of May 2026
Find out more via @thebuildingcentre
After peeling back the layers in our first fortnight, the last two weeks at Vyner Studios have been a balancing act between prepping the shell of the building and making some seriously exciting colour decisions!
While half the site has been busy setting up the roof and walls for a new layer of internal insulation (vital for keeping the space cool in the summer and cosy in the winter), we’ve also been finalising how the outside is going to look.
Inside, the prep continues, building some infill sections of studwork walls whilst we await the demountable @ubuild walls to come in towards the end of the programme.
The Green Belt is often seen as a “no-go” zone for new homes - but Orchard House proves that exceptional design can unlock even the most restricted sites. Securing permission for a new family home here wasn’t about finding a loophole; it was about a relentless, multi-year commitment to architectural and environmental excellence.
Here is how we turned a 65-year “no” into a landmark approval:
🤝 1. Proactive Partnership with the LPA
Rather than viewing the Local Planning Authority (LPA) as an obstacle, we treated them as a key stakeholder. This started with a rigorous pre-application process and continued through a cycle of transparent development. By keeping the council involved in the design evolution, we ensured the final proposal wasn’t a surprise, but a shared vision for a site that had been stagnant since 1955.
🏛️ 2. Navigating Paragraph 84
To build in the isolated countryside, a project must meet the “Country House Clause” (now Paragraph 84). This policy is an exemption for buildings of “outstanding quality.” It demands architecture that is truly exceptional, reflecting the highest standards in design while significantly enhancing its immediate setting. We leaned into this challenge, creating a home that functions as both a modest family dwelling and a masterclass in site-specific restoration.
📈 3. Proving ‘Very Special Circumstances’
For Green Belt sites, you must pass the “Very Special Circumstances” test. We met this by integrating a robust environmental backbone that went far beyond the standard.
Studio Bark are rural planning experts who thrive on these complex challenges. We have successfully guided 15 Paragraph 84 homes through the system by balancing architectural ambition with planning realism.
Planning a project on a sensitive site? Let’s navigate the process together.
Link in bio to explore our Paragraph 84 portfolio 🔗
This document captures the journey of Orchard House - from a family’s 65-year dream to a RIBA-shortlisted reality that now breathes alongside the Cheshire landscape.
At Studio Bark, we believe that truly sustainable architecture requires a deep understanding of place. This publication archives the rigorous “fabric-first” research and the site-specific strategies that define the project:
• Carbon Transparency: Detailed life-cycle data showing how we achieved a significant upfront biogenic sequestration.
• Material Heritage: The story of the site-won ash timber and the silvery larch cladding that allows the home to “disappear” into the orchard as it ages.
• The Trombe Wall: Technical drawings of the concrete core that regulates the home’s climate passively.
• Ecological Restoration: Mapping the return of rare local pear varieties and the thriving biodiversity that now calls this site home.
Orchard House stands as proof that a home can be high-performance without being high-ego. It’s about modesty, restraint, and a 100-year view of the land. It’s not just a house; it’s a working part of the ecosystem.
It started in 1955. For decades, the answer from planners was “no”- until a design came along that didn’t just sit on the land, but healed it 🌿
Orchard House is a rare and hard-earned success story: a Paragraph 84 home built in the protected Green Belt. By replanting a lost family orchard and using a “hyper-local” material strategy (including ash timber salvaged directly from the site), we turned a 65-year dream into a RIBA-shortlisted reality.
Now, the only sounds are the birds in the trees and the “zen” of a family finally home.
Orchard House has been shortlisted for the RIBA North West Awards 2026 - with the winner due to be announced 6th May.
Read the full story of the “Orchard House” at the link in our bio 🔗
