Croft Lodge Studio by Kate Darby and David Connor

Architect Kate Darby and designer David Connor together have preserved an 18th-century cottage located in Leominster, Herefordshire. The ruin of the nearly 300 years old cottage was preserved by building a new outer envelope. The rotten timbers, the dead ivy and the old bird nests and cobwebs were untouched.

The new outer shell was created over a steel portal frame and clad in black corrugated iron. The outer shell is highly insulated and airtight with double and triple glazed fenestration. Two wood burning stoves provide heating and an array of solar panels produce electricity.