Twin Houses

Built on an old industrial site in Oughtibridge in the north of Sheffield, UK, where a 200-year-old corn mill used to operate, the fittingly named ‘Corn Yard’ was designed for low maintenance living based on the use of untreated materials, exposed services and energy efficiency.
Designed by CODA Bespoke with the help of their clients, gallery owners, designers and identical twins Nik and Jon Daughtry whom wished to build twin houses next to each other. The bothers’ hands-on, no-frills approach has resulted in a truly functionalist architectural design whose beauty has been painstakingly imprinted into the building fabric during the 18 arduous months they spent digging, building, painting, varnishing, sanding, and waxing, yes they built the house themselves.
Located amidst lush vegetation next to a mill pond, the only reminder of the site’s industrial past, the twin houses are built on stilts enabling the creation of parking spots underneath while at the same time allowing for expansive views of the surrounding nature courtesy of large glazed areas. Clad in black corrugated steel and super insulated to minimize energy loss, the houses have been sustainably designed as further attested by the fact that both the underfloor heating and hot water systems use energy extracted from the pond.

Photo by Tom Kahler