Hawkes Architecture

Hawkes Architecture is a well-established architecture firm, founded by Richard Hawkes in 2008. Richard started the business following many years working on commercial properties and after appearing on Grand Designs, building his own house "Crossway".

Hawkes pride themselves on creating bespoke buildings of exceptional quality. They have developed and refined a framework for their design process. This focuses on ensuring that every building is perfectly harmonised with the characteristics of the surrounding area, while producing an ultra-premium experience for their residents.

Hawkes first contacted BWC with an initial enquiry to assist in the supply of cladding for an up-coming project called ‘the viewpoint’. This innovative 6,550ft development is situated in the Metropolitan Green Belt and was classed as an National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) "para. 55 (now para. 79)" project; the first of its kind within the borough of Tandridge District council.

Design

The first stage of this project was to assist in the design of a bespoke cladding profile. As a "para. 55" build, compliance with a rigid set of regulations, designed to encourage innovation, was a top priority. New isolated homes in the countryside are subject to a range of design expectations.

Such designs should be:

"Outstanding or innovative, helping raise standards of design more generally in rural areas"

"Reflect the highest standards in architecture"

"Significantly enhance the setting"

"Be sensitive to the characteristics of the local area"

Hawkes concluded that "off-the-shelf" cladding systems were unlikely to make the cut. Through partnership with BWC’s internal design facility, a new and entirely bespoke system was developed. By incorporating an asymmetrical design within the extrusion, due to the different angles within the profile, the visual aesthetics were enhanced creating variable shadowing effects.

After BWC completed final checks examining the "extrudability" (manufacturing efficiency) of the profiles, Hawkes were happy to progress to the next stage, prototypes. Creating 3D prints of the finished article allowed Hawkes to better speculate on the appearance of their profiles within their system, and to test fit and assembly with all of the other components involved.

Take a look at some of Hawkes work.