Mo0le’s approach embraces individuality while combining innovation and common sense.
Mole Architects was launched by Meredith Bowles in 1997. It is an award-winning architectural firm based in Cambridge. Mole creates structures and dwelling types like individual dwellings that reflect a dedication to cutting-edge sustainability, a love of colour, form, and material quality.
Learn more in this Mole Architects review.
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Mole Architects Overview
Meredith Bowles’ first building, a house for himself in the Cambridgeshire Fens, was shortlisted for the Architect’s Journal First Building award and won several accolades, including the RIBA Manser Medal, which is given to the best new house designed by an architect in the United Kingdom.
Bowles’ company, Mole Architects, has been distinguished by its peculiarity, originality, and personality, from The Black House in the Cambridgeshire Fens (included in the V&A architecture gallery) to the Living Architecture cooperation on the Balancing Barn. Mole creates structures that Elle Decoration describes as “not only green but attractive.” Artists, developers, housing associations, and colleges are among the clients for recent commissions, ranging from one-off houses to apartments and yacht clubs.
Mole’s homes have won numerous awards, including the British Homes Awards, the RIBA Manser Medal, the Homebuilding & Renovating Best House Prize, the Ideal Home of the Year, and the Architect’s Journal Small Projects award. Since then, they’ve been tasked with designing everything from houses to yacht clubs. Mole has worked on a new £80 million hillside resort in Taiwan. In 2012, The University of Cambridge selected Mole as one of ten firms from 350 applicants to design Phase 1 of a £1 billion development in northwest Cambridge.
Mole’s dedication to “green building” has remained consistent throughout the firm’s history. Early low-energy homes were built from the ground up in partnership with environmental engineers and used as exemplars by the BRE, TRADA, and others. Mole has executed certified Passivhaus schemes, including some of the country’s first affordable housing projects designed to this standard, and is currently working on one of the country’s most significant Code 5 housing projects.
All of Mole’s structures are the result of countless hours of teamwork. Regardless of scale, they all show a passion for the skill of producing and are uniquely adapted to their function. Each structure is meticulously designed to enhance the daily rituals that characterise our existence.
Services Offered By Mole Architects
Mole’s initiatives range in size and scope. They’ve created artist studios and master plans for developers intending to improve cities. Between these scales, they’ve designed various homes and structures, all of which contribute to the richness of the communities in which they live and work. Buildings that are well-designed make life easier, more comfortable, and more enjoyable.
The nature of the region and the characteristics of the project inform each project at Mole. They’ve worked with clientele who were ambitious and enthusiastic about architecture. Their work reflects this, resulting in one-of-a-kind structures that speak to the people they work with. There’s also a recurring theme in their work: a fascination with material, texture, and colour; a desire to create structures that are unexpected in their surroundings but somehow feel right; and a desire to create designs that are both energy efficient and pleasant to be in.
Marmalade Lane in Cambridge is a unique example of community house construction in the United Kingdom. It’s a tiny development of 42 residences designed by Mole Architects, including a mix of houses and a few apartments built with the Trivselhus system. The distinct un-British Co-Homes are the project’s most visible innovative elements. A large hall, a shared kitchen, social and play spaces, separate bedrooms, a shared workshop, and a warehouse are all found in the community home, located in the heart of the community. It also features a lot more open and free-standing space. The idea developed within the British industry rather than making significant breaks beyond it.
Mole Architects Contact Details
Mole Architects is registered in England and Wales with registration number 4514104 and registered office at George Court, Bartholomew’s Walk, Ely, Cambs, CB7 4JW.
- Address: Floor 2, Burleigh House, 52 Burleigh Street, Cambridge, CB1 1DJ
- Site: https://www.molearchitects.co.uk/
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 01223 913012
Burleigh Route is a pedestrian street that may be reached by walking or cycling from East Road. By automobile, the closest parking is the Grafton Centre (west) short-term parking lot, which you can find off Newmarket Road. Burleigh Street is a short walk from the short stay car park.
Mole Architects Reviews
Here are some reviews about Mole Architects found on their site:
Their contextually sensitive materialist approach is not about pastiche’ fitting in’ or slavish copying: echoing something of John Soane’s mantra that ‘we must be artists, not copyists’. –Architecture Research Quarterly
Mole Architects is one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary architecture practices working in Britain today. –themodernhouse.net
Mole Architects are particularly interested in producing designs appropriate for their local context, combining traditional materials and techniques with a more contemporary attitude to design and building. –themodernhouse.net
Summary
In this Mole Architects review, we see how the firm has grown in popularity for its unique brand of sustainable modern contextual design, specialising in houses and house design, and has received numerous national awards for excellence in both private and affordable house design, including the RIBA Manser Medal for the best home in the UK.
One of the projects done by Mole, with project architect Alice Hamlin, is the Marmalade Lane. It is hoped that Marmalade Lane will set a precedent that will make it easier to develop more in the future. By demonstrating that a project like this can be both socially and financially viable, developers and other participants in the construction industry may be more inclined to include it as part of the housing mix.
Each project the practice does is completed with similar technologies established in contemporary architecture. However, they add a twist that can build a new community of residents with the same positive architectural review despite having different house types.
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