It was both time to leap ship or to reinvent their north London townhouse. Right after just about 40 years of living under the identical leaky roof, Russell Vandyk and Alan Martin Working day, both equally retired, daringly selected the latter. The couple employed Studio Ben Allen to incorporate a two-story extension on to the back again of their terraced Victorian. The question came with a bonus each and every structure crew longs for: they ended up inspired, claims Allen, to “use the venture as a testbed for strategies.”
In response, the architects, led by Allen and Omar Ghazal, took the chance to “push the boundaries of off-internet site fabrication, some thing we felt was lacking in tiny-scale residential projects.” Precisely, they applied prefabricated pigmented concrete on each the exterior and interior, as structural features that are also ornamental many thanks to Studio Allen’s daring use of coloration and curves. The addition now houses a double-top new skylit kitchen area with a mezzanine that connects to the current primary stair and potential customers to a quite memorable new bathtub. And there’s much more: Vandyk and Working day basically received an solely new home that even now retains highlights of the original—and has attained a whole lot of appreciation from the United kingdom design group. Dubbed The Property Recast, the transform was named “best new residence improvement project” of 2021 in the NLA’s once-a-year “Don’t Shift, Make improvements to!” contest. Be a part of us for a tour.
Over: The 1892 household has a traditional façade and an eye-opening back again exterior of cast concrete: scalloped columns and beams the shade of verdigris body salmon wall panels that front the new upstairs toilet. “We selected these colours simply because they are equivalent to the copper and terracotta applied on some of the area Victorian structures of note,” claims Allen.
Higher than: The concrete hues ended up developed making use of earth pigments. Provides Allen: “We have been not only impressed by the coloration but the honesty of Victorian architecture: the brickwork is ornamental but it’s also load-bearing.” The new exterior and interior aspects had been produced off web page and proficiently mounted in a issue of days. The extension is 142 square meters (close to 1,500 square feet).Over: The architects released a extraordinary double-peak kitchen with a vaulted louvered ceiling and a mezzanine that “allow light to penetrate deep into the residence,” suggests Allen. The supports, island, and counter are all solid concrete the exterior and structural factors are the do the job of Cornish Concrete Products and the interior designs are by Concreations. The kitchen cupboards are designed of oak triply composed of a few layers of sound wooden.
“There made use of to be a little galley kitchen area with only a single window and a dining desk squidged up against it, and the garden was just a scrappy little bit of land,” Vandyk told The Modern day Residence. “It’s not as if we have been indifferent or sloppy,” included Day. “The household just wasn’t definitely at the middle of our universe. When we had been young, we had diverse priorities. A great deal of our daily life was outdoor. Now, it’s about home comforts.”
Higher than: The sink has an integrated drainboard of pigmented concrete and a faucet from Dornbracht’s Tara range. Take note the useful designed-in towel bar.
Of late, there’s been a whole lot of issue in the style and design globe about the superior-carbon cost of developing concrete. Eco-friendlier versions—aka “green concrete”—are now surfacing, but Allen suggests that this task sadly predated the present dialogue.
Higher than: An arched opening and concrete steps url the kitchen area to the dining home.Over: One of the redesign themes was “trying to develop link points through the household,” Allen advised the NLA (New London Architecture) forum. The textured walls are lime plaster.Earlier mentioned: Vandyk and Day owned a prop earning business enterprise before embarking on their transform. “As you get older you value having a additional aesthetic dimension to your life,” Working day instructed The Guardian in a highlight on the household. “Luxury isn’t about cruises or highly-priced sofas it is about magnificence.”Higher than: The place retains its first mantel and wide-plank flooring. The D-finished dining desk is a Studio Ben Allen layout. Higher than: Yet another archway connects the eating room to the entrance corridor. The doorway in the qualifications prospects to the living area. Really do not Go, Increase! decide Tom Foxall commented on the task: “It is not just an extension it is a route via the making and spatially incredibly fascinating. It works unbelievably very well architecturally,”Previously mentioned: Future to the residing place fireplace, a hatch opens to the kitchen area enabling the man or woman at the sink to just take part in the discussion and go meals back and forth. “These connections have designed the residence really feel so significantly extra sociable,” Vandyk informed The Guardian.Over: The architects manufactured the mezzanine’s blue balustrade on their own: it is composed of Valchromat, a as a result of-coloration higher-density fiberboard that they slash out with a CNC router and sent as a kit of parts. The smaller corner is employed as a “reading nook.”Above: The main bathtub is a hamman-type wet room completely composed of pre-fabricated pigmented concrete. Like the kitchen area, it has a vaulted louvered ceiling. The overhead tubular brass factor is a custom made shower head.
The layout was impressed by architect Omar Ghazal’s Jordanian heritage, and by Center Japanese references in Victorian architecture, these types of as at Leighton House, the Holland Park home of painter Sir Frederic Leighton.
Earlier mentioned: The architects experienced the fixtures manufactured for the place. The window display is Tricoya, a water resistant MDF that was CNC slash and then painted to match the rosy salmon that seems elsewhere. There is a mirror tucked inside of the cupboard door around the sink.
“Alan’s argument was, if we limit them, we’re not likely to finish up with anything quite attention-grabbing,” Vandyk commented to The Present day House. Additional Day: “There was a quite shut collaboration in the consultations, but we never ever challenged anything…We’re so content that we did not get started tutting and expressing no…We have the experience of rootedness simply because we’ve been right here given that 1980, and however one thing so imaginative has been finished.” For additional, look at the NLA’s Never Go, Make improvements to! video on the job.