
A series of supporting structures within IDK’s broader regenerative Millom Ironworks Masterplan which focuses on regenerative design, wellbeing and spirituality.
The Ancillary building provides a common room for retreat participants and functions as a partner to a central gathering building, the Millom Octagon. It contains the necessary support programmes and service equipment, housing the extensive plant to support a ground source heat pump, rainwater collection services and a PV array. The canopied green roof structure protects a rammed earth wall which reads as an elevated datum across the site. The building is the technical, functional counterpoint to the sculptural presence of the Octagon.
A second canopy structure, the Hearth, shelters a sunken fire pit which is carved directly into the land. The timber roof is supported on a collection of slender columns and covers a circular, stepped seating area for enjoying the cast iron fire pit in the round. The structure’s platform draws upon primal geometries, with the columns set at unequal intervals from the centre and the roof formed as an imperfect circle. The sunken seating is formed from gabions filled with spoil from across the site. This salvage-led approach reduces the use of carbon intensive concrete to the bare minimum.





Cumbria
2021