We're delighted to be shortlisted for three categories in this year's Archiboo Awards: the Activism award, Best Written Content award, and Best Use of Video award in collaboration with Jim Stephenson. Explore the awards shortlists at the link.

We have won planning permission for a ‘whole-life zero-carbon home’ in rural Cambridgeshire, next to a 15th-century moated manor house The low-impact home, designed for a ‘forward-thinking’ family of four, will occupy a post-war barn, centring around a full-height planted atrium space designed to enable passive heating and cooling.

We've been shortlisted to design a new and vibrant neighbourhood in Wolverhampton for Capital & Centric, alongside many exciting and progressive names in the industry. We're excited to be collaborating with Metropolitan Workshop and Mole Architects on the competition.

Our project Breach House was recently granted planning permission for an ‘exemplary’ water-powered home in rural Leicestershire. You can read about it now in the Architects' Journal.

Breach House is a home inspired by the water that surrounds it, and designed for climate resilience. It was granted planning permission in February 2024 under Paragraph 84 of the NPPF.

We worked with students from the University of East London to devise a roof-supporting column with otherwise unusable timber at one of our sites within ancient English woodland.

Looking to avoid high energy bills, lengthy mortgages and other people? Tim Dodd features Nest House in the BBC's recent piece on off-grid living.

At the end of December 2023 the NPPF was updated meaning yet another rebrand for exception clauses Paragraph 80 and Paragraph 134. Paragraph 80 is now Paragraph 84, and Paragraph 134 is now Paragraph 139. The good news for you (and for us!) is that there are no changes to the wording or content of either clause.

Could Paragraph 139 (previously Paragraph 134) of the National Planning Policy Framework replace the country house clause as a more reliable way of getting rural one-off houses through planning? Keith Cooper reports in the Architects Journal

This year we have teamed up with students at the University of East London for a construction week looking at historical techniques of timber furniture making and translating these techniques into methods of construction.

We're excited to announce that Making A Stand is the winner of Best Small Project 2023 in the IStructE Yorkshire Regional Group Awards. The project was commended for it's sustainable design, and locally sourced UK Douglas Fir fins that were graded individually according to each of their structural demands.

Our project Nest House, built by our very own student program No Building As Usual, was captured in a short film by architectural photographer and filmmaker, Jim Stephenson and his team. The film was premiered at the RIBA in December 2022 and you can watch it now online.

‘No Building As Usual’ is our student build programme addressing gaps within the building industry regarding a lack of diversity and climate literacy.

We collaborated with artist Michael Pinsky to create the wooden Making A Stand installation, which aims to explore material life cycles and "stand in solidarity with climate protestors". Find out what Dezeen had to say about the piece.

Taking on any type of building project can feel like a daunting task. You may be questioning how to hire an architect, or whether your house could achieve whole life zero carbon. One question at the top of any prospective client’s list is what type of surveys might I need?

Our clients, Peter and Joan, built their garden studio using our U-Build system. The Pod is a garden studio designed as a family amenity space, storage area and textile studio. Peter and Joan kept a diary to chart their progress - so you can follow their self-build journey.

How can architects influence carbon-intensive supply chains? Our director Wilf Meynell spoke to World Architecture News about our project Making A Stand and the message it's designed to portray about the provenance of timber. The project sends out an urgent call for the built environment industry to use more sustainable materials such as timber.

Studio Bark began trialling a 9-day fortnight in 2023 and will be continuing throughout 2024. Every other Friday our office will be closed, as we take time off to refresh, revitalise and restrengthen. Visit our Contact page for our 2024 office closure dates and to find out more about the initiative.

Foundations disrupt ground and release carbon, and damage biodiversity. Less invasive methods are effective so let’s use them, says James Mickelburgh of Jensen Hunt engineers. James explores the techniques we used at our project Nest House in the Wye Valley. For this project we used fully demountable Jackpad foundations, which are both recycled and recyclable and crossed with a grid of reclaimed railway sleepers.

Our proposal for a farm renovation in rural Shropshire promotes the removal or reuse of dilapidated buildings at an existing farmstead.

Paragraph 84 (previously Paragraph 80) refers to a section of the 2021 National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) relating to building new isolated homes in the open countryside.

Take a peek at Oolite House’s progress… Oolite House is currently under construction in the beautiful Cotswold Valley.

From the approach, Black Barn is a visually impressive, contemporary piece of architecture that sits discreetly within the landscape. However, it also provides a shelter; a bespoke and comfortable family home that is rigorously environmental and efficient to run.

Grand Designs Magazine have featured our project Nest House in their September issue. The piece explores ten innovative homes that generate their own solar energy for an array of uses, towards the goal of self-sufficiency and low utility bills.

Read our how-to guide about what surveys you may need for a new home on your land.

Billingford is a two bedroom home constructed using Studio Bark’s flat-pack U-Build system. U-Build was chosen in response to the client’s self-build ambitions which allowed them greater involvement with the build process.