The Met(a)house is an evolution of the townhouse creating flexible urban living while embracing the efficiency and sustainability gains offered by the modular FutureForm system.

Met(a)house type A is a four storey narrow-fronted house with mews access to a rear atelier over a steel framed garage. This gives efficient densities at 50 dwellings per hectare and creates a rich urban streetscape.

Met(a)house type B is a wide-front house with a front accessed atelier over a garage, and is suited to sites where rear access is not desired. The atelier is flexible and can be configured as a work space, additional living or removed to provide a roof terrace.

The Met(a)house re-interprets the traditional townhouse with a geometric stair at its core naturally lit by a generous lightwell on all floors. Living spaces are open, flowing with double height areas to facilitate the changing demands of a modern lifestyle. A gambrel roof gives an efficient third floor enclosure, solar orientation and recognisable townhouse character.

Both Met(a)house types have a main house internal gross area of 135m2 . Type A has a rear atelier internal gross area of 12m2.Type B has a side atelier internal gross area of 19m2. The garage is 20m2 on both types. The gross external footprint is 65m2 for both types.

Urban design

Wide and narrow frontage units combine to give a flexible approach to differing shaped sites while maintaining continuous frontages and varied streetscapes. Corner units have additional fenestration giving light and views to the unit and surveillance of the street.

Small urban squares provide local areas of play and rest. Shared surfaces, raised tables and offsetting the carriageway line reduce drivers¡¦ forward vision and slow traffic.

Mews give access to rear ateliers over garages, giving opportunity for home-working and flexible accommodation. Good sized private gardens, defensible space for privacy and light airy houses give an attractive urban environment to live in.

Construction and materials

The Met(a)house uses five pre-fabricated FutureForm modules of 3.8m internal width. The modules are delivered to site fully finished both internally and externally, ensuring a high quality of finish with zero defects. The entire house can be erected in a matter of days.

The Met(a)house is clad in locally sourced timber rainscreen from an accredited source. Modules will be fully clad in the factory except for the floor level joins which need to be site clad. The timber expresses the structural zones of the FutureForm system, leaving large clear openings for windows, projecting bays and cladding panels.

The bays and panels can reflect site locality and context and can express a colour scheme for a development eg, flint, bonded onto a cementitious board, alongside flint finished garden walls gives
southern downland characteristic, while brick slips, stone or render on cementitious boards can base the scheme elsewhere.

Roofs and bays are clad in standing seam aluminium and are lightweight, low maintenance and durable while maintaining the formality of the townhouse gambrel section.

Sustainability

The design is based on a ¡¥fabric first¡¦ approach and incorporates both passive measures and mechanical and electrical systems to make the most of energy expended in the building to limit carbon emissions. Renewable technologies provide low or zero carbon energy to the home reducing demand from the grid. The house has been designed to achieve level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and to limit its negative impact on the environment.

The following passive design measures are incorporated:
„h Built form: The house design is compact and in its terraced form there is a low ratio of external wall area to floor area which delivers low fabric heat loss.
„h Fabric: High levels of insulation are provided by the FutureForm system and with an upgrade to the roof heat loss levels required by the Code are met.
„h Daylighting to the living and circulation spaces is maximised to reduce use of electric lighting.
„h Solar Gain: External shading devices prevent the build-up of excessive solar gain internally.

The following mechanical and electrical systems are incorporated:
„h Ventilation: A whole house mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system keeps warm air within the building.
„h Electrics: ¡¥A¡¦ rated goods are specified for use within the dwelling and an ICT intelligent infrastructure enables optimum management of electrical appliances.
„h Water: Low flow taps and shower heads, a low capacity bath, grey water recycling and rain water harvesting reduce household water consumption to levels required by the Code.

The following renewable technologies can be incorporated depending on site specific circumstances:
„h The pitch of the gambrel roof provides the optimum location for photovoltaics providing electricity and solar hot water providing heat.
„h An individual biomass boiler located within the atelier or alternatively, on large developments a connection to a communal main can provide low carbon heating.

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