Surface Design Awards – Complete

• EXTERIOR SURFACE OF THE YEAR - NEW
  This is a new category that recognises wall and surface design products including decorative, creative and inventive surfaces for the exterior of building including both commercial and residential properties.
• HOUSING - EXTERIOR
  Buildings such as houses, flats and apartments that are used for sheltering people. These could be either part of the private or public sector and could be individual dwellings or multi-dwelling developments. Social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing, provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market are included.

Giles Miller Studio’s first completed residential property sits 100m from the cliffs and sandy beaches of Broadstairs, Kent. Completed in April 2023, the house breaks down barriers between the building's internal spaces and the glade of natural planting and trees that surround it, through a unique sculptural facade which invites nature to grow up the outside of the house whilst also being visible from within it.

Giles Miller Studio believes in enriching people's experience of space through an artistic and interventionist approach to architectural design. The UK-based studio continues to explore the relationship between materials and light, and this interest manifests in projects ranging in scale from miniature sculptural work and jewellery up to pavilions and permanent architecture.

Giles comments on Woven, “The buildings we inhabit have a direct impact on our state of mind. Through their design they are curators of light, sound and human interaction, and they can expose us to nature and organic materials to dramatically positive effect. We believe that this aspiration, in synchrony with our latest surface and sculptural experimentation in the studio, has spawned a wholly unique architectural typology.”

The sculptural concept itself was first inspired by the mathematical circularity of twisted rattan weave. Giles has introduced a 3-dimensional relief to this composition with the recycled ABS modules which have been produced from the waste materials recovered from the UK-based production of electronic component housing. The depth of the sculptural modules allows for increased visual permeability as well as a greater surface for the climbing plants which adorn the building to weave through.

Woven’s external surface is a sculptural artwork which brings an architectural functionality to the building by encouraging jasmine, clematis and other planting to grow up through the sculptural latticework and bring nature visibly into the building through the largely glass exterior.

The facade makes the building look at home within nature, brings the beauty of those natural surroundings visually into the building for the inhabitants benefit, and also enables the extensive use of floor to ceiling glass by creating natural shading.

The project has been delivered by a collaborative cohort led by Giles and his studio which includes architects, artists, engineers and makers alongside some of the world’s most conscientious suppliers.

- Recycled modules produced from waste material.
- Biophilic exterior surface.
- Minimal impact on landscape, including sitting the house on the surface of existing terrain and removing no trees in the build.
- FULL timber structure including Glulam pillars and CLT structure above ground level, with aluminium and glass curtain walling hanging off timber structure.

This surface was an intricate and complex design challenge and with the project being self-directed there was little time or budget to prototype the design, so assembly and development was condensed and challenging. Maintenance and cleaning has required a completely new approach including spider-lift commissioning twice a year to clean the windows without impacting on the facade and planting. However, the natural facade which is partly see-through thanks to the woven module design is worth some additional complexity with maintenance.

It is our view that this building, which has been approached with a uniquely artistic and sculptural starting point to the facade, and with the facade surface as the concept for the entire building (including internal layout), demonstrates a new architectural typology that stems from taking an artistic and nature-centric approach. The surface and the building are existentially intertwined and have been since conception, and this is something the designers are keen to celebrate as an innovative approach in British architecture.