KIRKLAND FRASER MOOR

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Headlands House. (click for more pictures)
Awards ---
Winner, The Brick Awards 2006 Innovative Use of Brick and Clay Products
Commendation, The Brick Awards 2006 Best Craftsmanship
Commendation, 2006 RIBA East Spirit of Ingenuity Award.
Evening Standard Article from 20th September 2006
The client for this private house is owner of a number of specialist brickworks. His desire was to encourage the use of local natural resources and materials in construction and he recognises that traditional crafts are still relevant in our community today and that they are able to contribute positively to the visual and social amenity of the community.


Aberdyfi Ecology Centre. (click for more pictures)

The Aberdyfi Estuary is situated on the southern coast of the Snowdonia National Park in Wales. This estuary is an important wetland area and has been recognised by UNESCO as the only Biosphere Reserve in Wales. The Ecology Centre has been established to present and interpret the rich ecology of this estuary. It aims to promote interest in local and global ecological and to provide education on wider environmental issues to the general public, tourists and students.The building is centered around a circular route along which are placed all the exhibition and communication material. This route covers both internal and external areas.



Skidelsky Building. (click for more pictures)

Brighton College is an independent school providing education for all groups from Pre-prep to Sixth Form. This project is for a new building within the Brighton College site to house the new Lower School, provide new classrooms and upgrade the Design and Technology department.




Lex Walsall. (click for more pictures)

Shortlisted from over 100 entries in an open RIBA competition our scheme for Lex Walsall was finally placed second. Our project put public space at the heart of the project and gave back the waterfront to a waterpark. Client Urban Splash.
"The calibre of entries was incredibly high and we were delighted to see such a strong interpretation of our requirements...there has to be a special mention to runners up Kirkland Fraser Moor for their stunning entry". Na than Cornish , MD Urban Splash




National Wildflower Centre, Liverpool. (click for more pictures)

Continuing our theme of near misses. Our proposal for the National Wildflower Centre was shortlisted to one of six entries from 144 entries in an open RIBA competition. The design aims to be made from the site itself. The domes are constructed from predominantly site materials to minimise costs and to promote a healthy building which reduces environmental  impacts and stimulates the local economy through the self build potential.  The design is a series of intersecting domes using unfired clay timbrel vaulting, the forms recall plant forms and natural geometries.  



New Business Centre (click for more pictures)

We were asked to design a new business centre to house relocated council services for South Tyneside council as part of a bid for the entire services of the local area.
The form of the new building within the context of the market square aims to complete the urban fabric of the square rather than competing with the pavilion qualities of the adjacent old Town Hall and the bell-tower of the nearby 17th century church.






Leisure Centre (click for more pictures)

The proposal merges the specific wetland characteristics of the adjacent park with the functional and aesthetic requirements of the new development.
The various aspects of the site due to the building configuration, the river, the lake and the adjacency with the park provide the basis for a set of landscape zones.






Waterfront Masterplan, Tyne and Wear (click for more pictures)

Alongside a masterplan for the surrouding area including retail, leisure and housing KFM were asked to design the new headquarters for the council services which serves as a pioneer project accommodating new jobs and performing an urban role in being the focus for the first phase of the regeneration of the site.
A key aspect of the design is the design of the roofscape which is envisaged as a usable garden linking the upper floors of the building and breaking up the floor plates with light and external spaces.  Threading through this garden is a terrace and viewing platform providing views to the river and back across the river.


Sugden House, Chorleywood (click for more pictures)

This design is for a new replacement dwelling on the site of a 1950’s house. The proposal will include a five bed house. The form of the house has been derived from a response to solar orientation, privacy and quality of external space.

Visually the house has been ‘split’ into two joined by a fully glazed transparent entrance space. This division assists with breaking down the visual mass of the house whilst also allowing for a private aspect to the accommodation, useful for a young growing family.





School Study.  (click for more pictures)

This study examines a site on the edge of an existing sports ground and golf course and proposes a new building with minimum visual impact.
A low impact landscape approach to the design has been taken. The building concept is two interlinked courtyards which are one storey below  existing ground level. The cut from the excavations are used to create earth berms around the two storey building giving the appearance of a high landscaped bank around the entire building. The cut and fill are balanced to keep all material on site.




Ladyman Barn Aldbury, Herts. (click for more pictures)

A new extension to Ladyman Barn, Aldbury Herts. Our solution seeks to enhance the garden setting of Ladyman Barn. The design provides new living accommodation with minimal impact on local character and visual amenity as well as local ecology. This is further enhanced by providing a fully planted flat roof which will maintain the current garden area.
. This south facing façade is curved to track the sunlight throughout the day and ensures that evening and morning light contributes effectively to passive gains.



Mews Houses, Tring,  Herts. (click for more pictures)

Located in a brownfield site behind the high street, this proposal creates a pair of mews houses. They are low and long and arranged to maximise solar aspect and to create privacy. The plots are defined by extending the wall of the houses. The houses are designed to exploit structurallly insulated panel construction. A technology providing large prefabricated panels which are assembled on site.
The forms are clad in zinc  and timber slats.
To the north the walls are local brickwork whcih continue into the landscape and return to connect with the surrounding plot boundary wall.




Brighton College.  (click for more pictures)

Brighton College asked KFM to prepare a study for bringing together musical activities on the school site. The requirement for an acoustic which is good for amplified and acoustic music led us to investigate  a shaped ceiling surface.  The ceiling is designed to achieve the acoustic, structural, mechanical and lighting performance in one high quality prefabricated element. Wood and the craft of carpentry are historically associated to making music and we hope the development of the roof design would make an architectural element with many of the properties of a good musical instrument.




Spring Meadow Farm.  (click for more pictures)

The house is situated on a steep slope of meadowland and is bounded on two sides by mature conifer trees. The project is in pre-planning stage. The house is designed to use local natural materials, predominantly those found on the site. The primary structure for the roof is constructed from the existing conifer resource the walls are rendered straw bail. 




Music Box.  (click for more pictures)

The music box is a 6x10m space with a capacity of over 60 people.  This creates a new temporary multi- purpose function room providing a space which is identifiably new within the Victorian grounds.
The exterior surface of the box is CNC cut laminated timber. The pattern is derived from the motifs on the adjoining building, an ornamentation with a self scaling repetition. This lightweight grid gives lateral stiffness to a series of structural insulated panels which alternate between glazing panels. The roof and floor continues the mono-material theme and is again constructed with large prefabricated elements which are connected on site. Panels open to allow variation in the acoustic absorbancy of the room.


Rose Cottage, Berkhamsted.  (click for more pictures)

The design is for a new housing development situated on the eastern boundary of Berkhamsted. The site is adjacent to the northern edge of the Grand Union Canal and is bounded by the main NE railway line. The proposal will include approx. 18 apartments. The site has had a contentious planning history principally concerning the density and visual impact of previous planning applications. We have attempted to provide a solution that seeks to promote local construction and materials as well as low ecological footprint.




Drakelow Project, Kidderminster.  (click for more pictures)

The Drakelow site is located to the north of Kidderminster in the West Midlands and houses a 2500m2 subterranean complex. The complex was tunneled in during world war 2 to accommodate a shadow factory producing Bristol Hercules aero engines. With the site now decommissioned and in private ownership an opportunity has come about to restore this facility and surrounding landscape. Our proposal for the Drakelow site puts sustainable communities goals into action by developing a unique training campus combining practical training skills for disadvantaged people within an environment in balance with the existing ecology.




Lifebelt Project, Hertfordshire.  (click for more pictures)


Lifebelt is a research project intended to review and adapt our approach to a number of aspects of modern life. Our towns and cities in the UK are surrounded by land which as been designated as greenbelt. The purpose of the greenbelt is to protect over-expansion and to maintain the amenity of accessible countryside. The land is, on the whole, under used and almost always undervalued.
Lifebelt proposes an alternative strategy. Food and water, energy, transport and waste can all be handled locally. By adapting the greenbelt to deal with the inputs and outputs of towns the benefits are exponential.  The same issues which work to escalate consumption can be employed in the favour of local systems.



Marshcroft Farm, Hertfordshire (click for more pictures)

This project is a study to retrofit low-energy systems to an existing farmhouse in Hertfordshire. The existing farm is a 1920's construction with poor insulation and high running costs. Our study proposes re-cladding the structure with high performance insulation and installing solar heating, biomass heating and a ground source heat pump. The re planning of the interior separates winter spaces and summer spaces to allow the house to expand and contract seasonally .





Amersham Town Hall, Buckinghamshire (click for more pictures)

KFM were invited to submit a design proposal as part of a bid for the design services for the relocation of the council of Amersham. Our proposal sought to link the new council offices and youth centre with the existing maltings, which is now converted to use by a number of small businesses.
By separating the village hall and council office our design was able to form a new public square with the third elevation of the square being formed by the existing maltings. Our bid was unsuccessful



Trotter House, Oxfordshire.  (click for more pictures)

This house for a young family is situated within Childrey village in Oxfordshire. The small site is fully enclosed within an historic brick garden wall. The clients seek to establish an ecologically sound design that will aim towards a zero carbon emission goal. The house will primarily use strawbail and green timber construction all sourced locally.

The design seeks to retain and enhance the traditional garden wall. The house is single story to minimise the visual impact and is horizontal to incorporate a planted roof. The planting will include local species of wild flowers and will be designed to extend the flora and fauna capacity of the site.


LilyPAD Marina.  (click for more pictures)


This proposal for tidal estuary holiday housing combines the expanding market for holiday homes and fixed mooring marina developments. 
Designed as a self contained module built in association with shipbuilders the 60- 150m2 Lilypad houses are designed as 1,2 or 3 bed apartments each with a terrace onto the water and a boat mooring space.
The Lilypads are each attached to two mooring piles and allow the occupant the flexibility of rotation to maximise views, and solar aspect. The  marina can expand and contract seasonally. The homes are winter stored if required and towed onto the mooring posts when reqested by owners. 



Student Housing , Perugia, Italy.  (click for more pictures)

This new student residence is conceived as a scholastic village, and is designed as a ‘muro verso valle’ molded to the contours of its hilltop site.
The layout and aspect of the ‘muro’ exploits the commanding views over the surrounding landscape. A series of microclimate niches are created on terraces to the north of the building and minimise the impact of wind and to grow fruit trees. Buildings and planting are combined to create shelter and improve comfort in external spaces.




Housing, Berkhamsted.  (click for more pictures)

This proposal for Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire will include 12 duplex apartments within a 4-story block. We are aiming to achieve target density rates of above 80 units per hectare. Although high, we are ensuring that all apartments have access to private gardens. By making use of normally redundant roof surfaces we are able to provide private outdoor gardens equivalent in size to Victorian terraced housing at greater densities.
Using local building products and building scale ensures that the new building will work within the grain of Berkhamsted vernacular architecture and extend it rather than replicating it.



Sports Pavillion, Sussex (click for more pictures)

A proposal for a new pavilion at the Sussex new ground will create changing spaces for home and away teams, as well as a social area for entertaining parents after matches.
The Pavilion will serve three prep schools and be available for local clubs out of hours.
The building responds to the parkland setting through a landscape treatment collecting the various paths of the park together. 
The design is orientated to have the social areas opening out onto the landscape and a decked terrace with the changing and kitchen facilities toward the back of the building.



Glacier Lodge (click for more pictures)

The Glacier Hut mountain retreat project was a competition entry for visitor accommodation to the Pallisades Glacier in Colorado.
The proposal presented aims to remove as far as is possible the physical boundaries that would come between the visitor and the natural environment in a safe, comfortable and economic way.
Traditionally mountain refuges are solid heavy buildings which make little or no use of natural daylight, solar heat gain or affords a visible link with the surroundings.
Our project creates a large transparent tensile structure which creates a protecting barrier to wind, snow and rain whilst maintaining external views.



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