ArchShowcase Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Brackenbury House in London, England by Neil Dusheiko ArchitectsJanuary 18th, 2017 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: Neil Dusheiko Architects Introduction The project is a remodelling and extension to a house in a conservation area for a young family with one child. The Brackenbury House forms part of a terrace of five Lillian Villas built in 1879. The “L” shaped double-fronted villas are brick and stucco faced, two-storey high, with front gardens forming a landscaped frontage, set back from the street.
Client’s Brief Dutch born, Niels Swinkels works for Universal Pictures and is passionate about the aesthetic of sci-fi films. Erica Swinkels [Swedish / British], asked for a palette of natural earthy materials and was keen for us to retain as much of the existing fabric of the building and re-cycle it as we reconfigured the house to make it work better for them as a family. The ambitions for the project were high in terms of achieving open plan, visually connected spaces to allow for a greater sense of communication between the different rooms. The client wanted to make the house feel connected to the outside through framed views to the garden and to allow as much natural light in as possible. Materials and Spatial Strategy Our design adds a new basement and rear extension, providing an expanded living and kitchen space, sky lit sun-filled bathrooms, a home cinema, playroom and guest bedroom. We sought to create an innovative design solution – rethinking the basement typology in a contemporary way to ensure it was both a light-filled but could also be used in a multi-functional way – as a playroom for their young son or a sophisticated cinema viewing room. The conceptual approach was to create a calm atmospheric interior using carefully selected unified palette of materials stitching the modern design into its historic context within the conservation area. Materials work well together due to the inherent relationships between re-used historic materials juxtaposed with modern industrial elements. The new basement area is lit by large skylights cut into the floors above. All levels are opened out to allow the existing rooms of the Victorian house to give way to an open plan interior on the ground floor and tall loft like spaces upstairs. The kitchen and living rooms open out to a south-west facing patio, creating a strong connection between house and garden. All the ceilings in the upper floors were removed, allowing the tall loft-like ceiling spaces to be exposed with large skylights flooding the home with natural light. The bathrooms are top lit by generous skylights linking bathing spaces to the sky above. Planning Constraints As the house was in a conservation area there were some restrictions about how we could extend the house and through an open dialogue with the planners and our decision to re-use most of the existing fabric, we were granted permission within the statutory timescales. Timescale, programme and budget. The project was split into two phases, the basement excavation and shell construction and then the extension and internal fit out. The entire project took 12 months from start to finish and cost £500,000 exc VAT and professional fees. The project was carried out on a JCT IFC with Contractors Design for the M&E. Contact Neil Dusheiko Architects
Categories: House, Residential |