House for Two Artists

Located centrally on a large plot, the original two-storey building was constructed in the 1930s as lying-in accommodation for new mothers. Unusually, it is set at a 45 degree angle to the street and consequently is bordered on all four sides by mature gardens.

The property was converted to a house and extended several times during the 1980s resulting in a discursive, awkward, layout – particularly the ground floor living spaces.

From early discussions with the client it was decided to accept the existing building volume, however imperfect, and to avoid the potential expense and environmental cost of a typical house extension or refurbishment. Instead the project is conceived as a series of many smaller interventions that gently repair and upgrade the exterior yet radically reimagine the interior to create a more legible sequence of rooms with better connections to the garden, better daylighting and more usable space throughout.

By removing an internal partition, a new front-to-back kitchen and dining room creates a focus to the ground floor plan with all main rooms leading from it. The kitchen island is designed as a free-standing piece of furniture, more like a sideboard than a kitchen unit, so the kitchen does not overwhelm the character of the dining room and living spaces.

A utility room leads off the kitchen and has its own direct access to the garden. The floor, walls and work surface are wrapped in a continuous ceramic tiled finish with an integrated sink and a shower specifically sized for the owners’ dog.

On the first floor, the layout is adapted to create a suite of rooms for the principal bedroom that includes a dressing room and a bathroom. The dressing room is lined with full height fitted wardrobes with door fronts wrapped in marled linen. The bathroom is detailed in large terrazzo slabs with profiled Iroko joinery forming the shower screen, bath surround and mirrored vanity unit.

Externally new windows and doors replace aluminium framed glazing from the 1980s and a triangular-shaped concrete porch frames a new front door facing the street. Replacement windows facing the street have timber frames and are multi-paned to maintain their historic appearance; windows facing the garden are large format, to maximise views out, with bronze-anodised aluminium frames.

Through sympathetic choice of materials and careful detailing, the finished project reinstates a sense of quiet dignity and cohesion throughout the house and creates intrigue by leaving ambiguous what is original, what has been altered, and what is entirely new. The project is an exemplar of retrofit in a time of climate emergency when views on what is best practice are shifting, and considerations of building conservation, or renewal, are ever more closely measured against their environmental costs.