This project is designed as an uplifting place to live, with a brief for a social space to hold music events, one in which to enjoy and judge food, whilst always remaining a home for our client, guests and family.
The original floors of the maisonette were disconnected, cellular in nature, and had no garden access. The exterior was little-touched, with the exception of rear replacement windows and poorly rebuilt bays. Internally, high quality detail remained in three ground floor quadrants, but otherwise were lost. The maisonette had dilapidated services, damp and no insulation.
The shared entry quadrant of the maisonette was contorted. In a first phase, we inserted a new stair into an altered side extension giving separate access to the upper flat.
The house is now defined by three interlinked areas which flow together.
The Ground floor quadrants open fully to each other: entry and stair; kitchen; dining/buffet; living /performance salon. Our new open-plan arrangement flows naturally to the garden. Interventions are defined by bold colour and raw materials that highlight by contrast the retained historic elements. The remodelled bays let light cascade onto this floor and open the entirety to the rear.
The lower ground floor houses private spaces; bedrooms, study and utility spaces, where the cellular nature is retained and environmental performance upgraded.
The exception on the lower ground floor is the Study. This space is directly connected spatially, visually and materially to the upper floor. It’s large coloured opening wall relates directly to the pivoting wall of the entrance. When open, it is possible to view directly from the entry of the house right to the garden, under the Kitchen and through the stair and glazed box of the Study, equally through the Kitchen and ground floor bay windows. This connects both floors and the garden.
Accessed from a new full-width steel balcony, the garden can double as forum for summer music, and the house serves as a backdrop to this.
The remodelled brick and canted bays of the ground floor and the all-glass bay of the Study beneath all open to the outside, the balcony serving as mediator at both levels. At ground floor it serves as a gallery for performances, whilst from below, it creates a louvred shaded space for more private occupation.