Looking Glass Lodge

Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird

Looking Glass Lodge

Michael Kendrick Architects

CLIENT
Looking Glass Lodge

MAIN CONTRACTOR
Client self-build

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Momentum (Project Engineer - Pamela Ewang)

PROGRAM / USE / BUILDING FUNCTION
Holiday let

APPROVED INSPECTOR
East Sussex Building Control Partnership

INTERIOR DESIGNER
Looking Glass Lodge

LANDSCAPER
Rutty Sark Gardens

ECOLOGICAL CONSULTANT
The Ecology Consultancy

MANUFACTURERS
Vectorworks, Ferm Living, Alexander Seifried & Richard Lampert, Firemaker, Forbes and Lomax, HAY, Hans J. Wegner for Carl Hansen & Søn, Havwoods, Joan Gasper, Johnson Bespoke, Lusso Stone, Mandarin Stone, SageGlass, Secto, Silva Timber, Xavier Manosa and Mashallah

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Michael Kendrick Architects

PHOTOGRAPHS
Tom Bird

AREA
49 m²

YEAR
2022

LOCATION
Hastings, United Kingdom

CATEGORY
Cabins & Lodges

Looking Glass Lodge by Michael Kendrick Architects is a unique woodland retreat and holiday let, set discreetly within a natural clearing in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird

Shaped by a low-impact, material-driven design approach, the lodge is hidden away from view, blending seamlessly into the protected woodland.

As lifelong residents of the local area, the client’s vision for this holiday let is to enhance the ecological biodiversity of the area, protect wildlife and enable guests to understand and appreciate the fauna, flora, and unique history and nature of the area.

Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird

The lodge also seeks to support the local economy, by providing a platform for local businesses, such as food and beverage makers, and artists to showcase their products and work.

The subtle yet refined design is modest in scale and makes use of the sloping site, where the lodge appears elevated amongst the trees as the ground levels fall away below.

Large picture windows on both the front and rear façade offer the lodge a sense of distinct transparency, enabling visitors to benefit from stunning natural views from all areas of the lodge, and fully immerse themselves in the setting.

Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird

Throughout the year, the lodge is flooded with natural light, while self-tinting electrochromic glass grants privacy and limits overheating and the spill of artificial light as dusk falls.

Critically, using this glass also ensures that the lodge does not disrupt the site’s bat activity, helping to secure the long-term habitat of this protected species.

Within, a simple yet welcoming layout includes an open-plan living space with a log-burning stove. This uses timber sourced from fallen trees on-site to heat the lodge in winter - significantly lowering the lodge’s running costs and creating a comfortable, Scandi-inspired retreat.

Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird

The bespoke, carefully-configured kitchen sits at the lodge’s heart, while birch-plywood joinery gently subdivides the layout, to create a more private bedroom The en-suite sees a free-standing bath make the most of the views out across the trees.

Built by local craftsmen based in Hastings, the lodge features the same species of timber – western red cedar - on the external cladding and internal lining.

Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird

Left unfinished, the exterior will weather naturally to a silver-grey color that is reminiscent of the local landscape, which will contrast the cozy, warmer tones of the interior.

The site’s existing ecology, habitat, and treeline were key considerations throughout the project, from manufacture to completion.

Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird

The lodge’s hybrid steel/timber-framed structure bears down on screw-pile foundations for a low-impact approach that avoids damage to existing tree roots, ensures no trees needed to be felled, and retains unobstructed access for wildlife.

The project also prioritized off-site construction, in order to circumvent logistical limitations to the site, and safely achieve a minimally disruptive construction process.

Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird

The build provided an opportunity for the site’s biodiversity to be enhanced above its current baseline, including removing invasive plants currently on site and adding bat and bird boxes to encourage the natural regeneration of native flora.


Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird
Looking Glass Lodge
© Tom Bird


Looking Glass Lodge
Plan
Looking Glass Lodge
Site Plan


Looking Glass Lodge
Side Elevation
Looking Glass Lodge
Rear Elevation
Looking Glass Lodge
Section