In 2010 Azman Architects completed refurbishment of a detached late Victorian house in London for a couple with two small children. When the same client bought a house in Suffolk seaside town of Alderburgh they asked Azman Architects to take on the refurbishment project.
The North Sea facing house was built in late 19th century as two up two down and was in a bad condition and needed new services, bathrooms and kitchen. The property was dark with some rooms facing an alley without much or any daylight.
The Clientʼs brief was to refurbish the house and create a beach house as their summer retreat. Apart from asking for 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms the clientʼs brief was not prescriptive. Having already worked with Azman Architects the Client left it to them propose how best to use the space available and did not indicate any preferences as to which materials they would prefer in the house. They did however emphasise that they would like to see this house “lighter, less serious” than their London home with cheerful colours and materials.
Whilst reviewing the existing houseʼs space and structure it became apparent that the internal walls and floors of the house needed to be overhauled due to their condition. This requirement cleared the obstacles metaphorically and literally in our objective of achieving achieve efficient use of space.
We relocated and rebuilt the existing staircase and arranged rooms around it, which acted as an anchor in the house. We introduced gazed slits to all spaces that did not directly benefit from the view. Master bathroom and family bathroom enjoy the views of North Sea with the help of these strategically positioned ʻglass slotsʼ, which help visually connect the back of the house with the beach front. Daylight is filtered through the new skylight positioned above the staircase to both floors and rooms.
We lined some walls with softwood panelling but rather than introducing this as a form of surface treatment we proposed them where they have utilitarian purpose such as a bed head or accessible wall panelling for bathrooms. In some instances the panelling continued as cupboard doors. The panels were painted everywhere apart from master bedroom bed head which light blue. The ʻpanelʼ theme was continued as a balustrade come wall around the staircase and as portioning between hallway and dining room.
White softwood timber floors were proposed on bedroom floors at upper level. Hand made white Moroccan tiles were used through out ground floor. The kitchen units and all built in and some free standing furniture were all designed by Azman Architects.
Azman Architects assisted the Client in choice of furniture and some fittings. We chose furniture with bold colours some with retro feel as an attribute to the playfulness the client desired to introduce.
