Chris Dyson Architects - Dyson House, Studio and Gallery

Chris Dyson Architects

• 2007

The Dyson Family Residence, Architecture Studio and Eleven Spitalfeilds Gallery in a rebuilt London terrace.

This house is double-fronted, containing a semi basement, three storeys and a roof garret and dates from between 1724 and 1743. Prior to the clients purchasing the property in 2008 it had been converted to offices with a selfcontained basement flat. The building contained two entrances; main entrance in the centre of the building with a side step access on the left side and secondary entrance to the far right leading down to the lower ground floor.

The proposed scheme was to reinstate a straight flight of stairs leading directly to the main entrance door. The direct entrance approach is very typical of domestic design in the 18th Century and it was considered that the side step access had been altered to accommodate the change in use. Internally the proposal included the reconfiguration of the plan. The former garret in the roof became a master bedroom with access to the roof top terrace. The basement was transformed into a bright kitchen, dining and sitting space, complete with a ‘living’ wall in the dining area. Here light floods into the newly glazed courtyard also bringing air into the lower levels of the house which had previously been dark, dank and depressing.