The building was Mole’s first realised building and was designed as a model for a low-energy house: a reduction in the use of fossil fuels; the elimination of extensive use of high-energy production materials; all-electric heat pump heating system; MVHR with heat recovery; re-cycled materials, and intelligent passive solar thermal design. The Black House takes as a model the agricultural barns of The Fens. The timber glulam frame is raised up on stilts, and is clad in black-painted Eternit cement fibre corrugated cladding. Flat panels painted brighter colours mark the entrance ways. The black cladding is set against stained Danish softwood windows, with minimal glazing to the north and a solar canopy over the larger windows looking over the fields.