A project to re-organise and extend the bottom floor of a victorian House in West London
How is the project unique?
Because the project was mainly interior based, decisions about finishes and colours were particularly important. The colours in particular are bold, inspired in part by some of the client's art, and we worked with an interior designer, Emilie Fournier who was able to come in with a fresh pair of eyes and make some really bold choices which work very well against the calm white oiled ash floor, and the exposed structural timber of the extension roof.
We also designed the island unit, made by the contractor on site with a reclaimed iroko science bench top, graffiti still in place. The kitchen is by naked, with a concrete worktop and glass splash back, which all combine to create a rich palette of materials.
Who are the clients and what's interesting about them?
The clients are a young family, Lara and Mark plus 2 kids, one of which arrived just after completion. Mark is involved in the construction industry and is well versed in the design and construction process. This meant that as a team we were able to understand each other quickly and work collaboratively on the design challenges right from the start.
What were the key challenges?
Although a quite well defined project to refurbish one floor of a house, one of the key challenges was to work with the existing structure. While some clients want to open everything up, in this case we kept the original kitchen, transforming this into a larder, with a internal window with shelves either side. This made for an interesting and practical layout, whilst also reducing the structural work required.
What building methods were used?
We are very keen on honestly expressing structure, in this case for the extension roof. We used Kerto, a structural engineered timber which comes in sheets and large scale beams. This allowed us to refine the structure and avoid doubled up joists around the rooflight, cut joist to falls and hide all fixings by using Rothoblass hidden joist hangers. This thought and care is unobserved and hidden, but the simple and clean details are especially important in a small project. The engineered quality of the roof structure, combines well with the bold colour scheme and is a counterpoint to the rest of the house which is more traditional and grander in scale. The floor very much feels like a family space, informal but interesting and easy to live in which was the whole point of the project.
To the garden we used a max light sliding pocket door which can slide right back into the wall. The rear elevation uses pale bricks with a tiled coping above. A single Velfac window provides ventilation. A green roof above is visible from the main living room on the upper ground floor.
What was the brief?
The clients wanted to transform the lower ground floor of their house into the main family kitchen, dining and living space. Originally it was divided into a separate annexe for an au-pair, with a small kitchen and uninspiring conservatory. It is now works a series of connected spaces each with its function- dinning at the front, kitchen and larder central and a living/ TV snug to the rear.
