Sydney Buildings is a desirable street on the southern slopes of central Bath. Our client purchased a run-down property previously used as student accommodation with the aspiration to return it back into a family home. After careful analysis of the historic value of various aspects of the building fabric, we prepared a scheme that stripped away the modern layers of inappropriate interventions, repaired original features and sensitively introduced new services to make the house fit for modern life. The highlight is the new contemporary double-height bay window in the basement that opens out into the garden providing views across the Kennet and Avon Canal to the city skyline beyond.

This detached house was originally constructed in 1965 and is located on a suburban street close to the centre of Bath. The clients bought the property with the desire to upgrade and extend the accommodation to suit their growing family. The new alterations have a minimal impact on the front of the house, instead providing a dramatic transformation of the living spaces at the rear and improving their connection to the garden. This has been achieved by extending outwards and to the side which, with the removal of the existing external and internal walls at ground level, creates a generous open plan living space. An additional bedroom at first floor was also provided and the rest of the house was refurbished to a provide a thoroughly modern and more energy efficient living environment.

Alexander McQueen’s flagship store presented the challenge of creating a unique retail environment within a Grade II Listed building. A full height glass box slices through the front facade, adding drama to the shop front display. Further in, a steel framework runs like a backbone through the shop. Interchangeable and moveable frames allow the shop to reinvent itself with each season responding to the designer’s reputation for producing varied and dramatic collections.

Finalist FX Award 2000
Best Store Design

Published:
Architectural Review February 2000

Only one of a handful of single use art deco dwellings in the UK, this grade 2 listed rare Art Deco building in central London has undergone careful restoration and refurbishment for the past two years by Mackenzie Wheeler.

Designed in 1934 by London architects Wimperis, Simpson & Guthrie, it was a contemporary interpretation of the traditional town houses lining the local streets.This house is every bit as decadent and glamorous as one would expect of an Art Deco building.

The former maids rooms on the fourth floor have been knocked together to form the garden room with glass doors leading to an oriental inspired roof garden.

The most noteworthy architectural features can be found on the ground and first floors: the entrance hall walls are clad with sycamore and walnut veneers, the former patients waiting room has been reassembled. The Betty Joel joinery has been carefully restored and the Waldo Maitland lights have been refurbished and re-instated. Elsewhere in this impressive home, original door handles have been similarly refurbished and re-used and include handles of timber, bronze and Bakelite.

The third floor remains largely unchanged and even includes a surviving bathroom suite that has been restored. The second floor is still the master bedroom suite albeit with some structural reconfiguration. The walls of the original breakfast room, however, have been retained at the request of the conservation officers although it is now used as a bathroom.

The bathrooms with alternating bands of white and black marble to the walls and floors have been completed with bespoke cabinetry. The overall effect is so suggestive of the era that it is difficult to distinguish from the original designs.

The first floor still holds the library and drawing room as well as the former lady’s consulting room. The latter has been turned into an office with new sycamore panelled walls: a nod to the sycamore adorned entrance hall. The drawing room is finished in a neutral pallet to balance the artwork and newly sliver leafed ceiling against the original oak floor boards and striking limestone fireplace. In the library the original fitted furniture has been polished to a pleasing lustre and the floorboards have been exposed and stained black.

Other than placing the kitchen within the former consulting room and the re-assembling the patients’ waiting room to create a dining room, the ground floor is also largely unchanged. All of the wall veneers have been restored and French polished.

The lower ground floor has seen the most modern interventions and now claims a living room and kitchenette, bedroom, bathroom, laundry room and perhaps most notably a home cinema.

The redevelopment of a terrace of 19th century buildings with additional 2 and 3 storey extensions to the upper parts to provide 2no.1 bedroom, 3no. 2 bedroom and 1no. 3 bedroom flats with 3no. shops on the ground floor and basement, set within the South Shoreditch Conservation Area.

Nos. 5-7 comprised the refurbishment and extension of the original 19th century buildings while no.3 comprised a complete new build, retaining only the original façade at the 1st floor. The existing facades were carefully repaired to their original condition while the extensions are highly contemporary and provide a spectacular sequence of modern glazed spaces opening onto new roof terraces.

The front elevation of No.3 features a 3 storey high Corten steel screen that focuses the views from the projecting bays of the living accommodation east and west along the street but screens this accommodation from the offices in the Tea Building opposite. The screen is laser cut with a text that records every owner, occupier and use of the site from recorded history going back to when it was part of the Priory of St.John the Baptist in 1158.

The client had purchased a dilapidated 1950s house in a residential street in Bristol, and wanted to transform it into a modern, bright and low energy family home. After discussions about the merits of retaining all, part or none of the existing accommodation, it was decided to leave the front part of the house in tact with a new extension to the rear. The retained section was renovated and included a new slate roof, metal windows and was overclad with insulating render to improve the thermal performance. The rear of the house took on a softer character using western red cedar cladding and contained the new heart of the house; a double height dining space with direct access into the kitchen and a new staircase leading to a first floor gallery.

Situated adjacent to the Farm House, the Grade II* listed former threshing barn had fallen into a state of disrepair and the proposal was developed to repair and convert the structure to provide ancillary accommodation to the main house, to include a home-work space, kitchen, bathroom and guest bedrooms. The new functions are contained within a series of free standing white timber boxes to the west end, leaving two- thirds of the original double-height volume intact. The existing modern steel frame is utilized to support the new roof structure without distributing the extra load onto the historic walls. As part of the first phase of works, a new wood-burning boiler in an adjacent outbuilding provides heating and hot water to both the farm house and converted barn.

The existing house in the heart of Marlborough suffered from poor connections to the rear south facing garden. The simple construction of the new extension comprises a galvanized metal frame and glazing to the garden elevations to maximise views and connections, whilst the external east elevation maintains privacy by continuing the existing boundary wall using handmade red bricks to match. The space is accessed via a new wide structural opening from the refurbished kitchen and also links an existing workshop with the rest of the house. A bay window at first floor level further enhances views out from the house, overlooking the green roof of the new garden room, planted with wild flowers, concealing the rooflight to the space below.

Located on the edge of a village with wide views across the rural landscape, this unlisted Victorian house was recently renovated by its owners. They wished to add a new garden room that would link the kitchen with the surrounding landscape and provide a place where the family can gather informally. The contemporary design of the new addition remains sympathetic to its setting through the use of traditional materials including bath stone ashlar and pre-formed metal sheets that match those of the original house. In advance of the construction of the new space a number of alterations to the house were made including the creation of a large opening through to the kitchen and a new staircase into converted basement rooms below.

Working with architects Jestico + Whiles and Peter Barber Architects, Studio 54 Architecture has developed the national RIBA competition winning scheme for the first major phase of the redevelopment of the 1970s Grahame Park Estate in Colindale, North London.

The project included the review of the existing masterplan and will provide 500 additional homes, a library, a park, shops and a community centre. It is the start of a 15 year program to create 3000 extra homes in Grahame Park.

Photographs by Sarah Blee

Peabody homes have been at the heart of London for nearly 150 years. They are one of London’s longest standing affordable housing providers and more than 50,000 Londoners live in a Peabody property. George Peabody’s mission in 1862 was to ‘ameliorate the condition of the poor and needy of this great metropolis and to promote their comfort and happiness’.

Given the constraints of building new homes in London, a key part of finding land for delivery is via the optimisation of land within Peabody’s existing portfolio. The four sites presented are all on Peabody owned estates. Of the four sites, three are currently occupied by garages and one is an infill opportunity on under used land.

Turnham Green Terrace Mews is a complex of buildings, dating from the early part of the 20th Century, bounded on two sides by gardens to private houses and on the other two sides by the Mews.

The buildings in the mews were in need of refurbishment or renewal. They have been in continuous use since the early 1900’s and repair and maintenance has been haphazard. Our Client wanted to explore the possibility of modernising the mews buildings, retaining those that could be retained together with the large brick boundary walls onto the gardens. The project has involved the retention of two buildings on the West side of the site and the redevelopment of the remainder of the site, creating a new mews which runs North-South providing natural light and ventilation into the site and exposing the East facade of one of the retained buildings (an old organ works). The new development which includes a basement has been planned to provide flexible work space and has been carefully designed to avoid the overlooking of neighbours residential buildings.

The Application went through a pre application stage, followed by the Planning Application and an officer’s recommendation for Approval.

The original Planning Application was granted Approval in December 2012, and the basement received Approval in July 2014. The demolition of the redundant buildings was completed in the summer 2014, and the project started on site in the spring of 2015, due to be complete in late summer 2016.

Demolition of an existing single storey garage and construction of an attached two-level (including basement level), two-bedroom dwelling to the east of the existing dwelling, with a separate entrance at ground floor level. The building has been designed in the character of a coach house/stables with a simple white washed timber screen facing the street frontage containing all the functional elements of the façade. The aim of the project was to provide better access from the adjacent house into the garden and new accommodation.

Photographs by Sarah Blee.

KTB Architecture formed to complete its second project on the Crescent and was a chance to evolve and improve on our previous designs. The whole house had been gutted and refitted out in the 1980’s leaving a dearth of any genuine historical features. The construction was poor and the detailing pastiche Georgian. The mews house was particularly small and dark which led to the decision to demolish the vast majority of the existing fabric and start anew.

The creation of correctly proportioned and accurately detailed formal rooms in the existing house has been complimented with light, contemporary and spacious set or rooms beyond, flowing into the new mews and out onto a series of terraces. The pool hall receives generous daylight by way of a structural glass wedge that dictates the form of the link between the main house and mews.

Sometimes a standard staircase is too intrusive or blocks out too much light, sometimes it just doesn't set the scene.

These staircases are cantilevered from a side wall and have no visible fixings, so they are utterly transparent and appear to float. The intention is to generate the magic realism of Magritte where people or objects don't obey the laws of gravity as we know them.

There are two types available and they can be ordered through us with or without the full interior project. The design is registered to IMAGO

With loft and basement extensions, relocating the staircase improves room sizes and circulation in the whole house and with glass screens onto it and a rooflight on top, light views and air permeate the whole house from this central zone.

A lightwell to the basement is lighter due to the totally glass bridge over it connecting the ground floor kitchen to the garden.

The overall energy performance is upgraded with hemp and radiant insulation, solar panel, LED downlights and replacement double glazed windows and a passivent stack extract system with humidity sensitive grills silently ventilates all wet rooms and bathrooms.

Limed oak full height doors and flush skirtings, full height frameless shower screens, no cornices, underfloor heating and flush shadow gap detailing throughout give a modern backdrop to the clients' choice of internal finishes.

Post war apartments are now 'old' building stock despite a modernist design approach, so when they are given some essential maintenance and upgrades they leap into the twenty first century.

This 60's apartment block near Kensington Palace looked dingy after 40 years and needed defensible forecourt space as the original open paved area sloped into the basement car park and residents had to enter via a bridge into a lobby shared with a refuse room access.

We created a front garden by relocating the bin store and wrapping a softly curved wall around the forecourt. The refurbished lobby is light and spacious and planting tot he ramp sides new double glazed windows and general redecorations complete the uplift.

A unique and complex site which features no less than eleven listed buildings (plus four unlisted) centred around a neglected and underused courtyard space in the middle of Soho. Planning has been lodged on behalf of Soho Estates and Soho House for a scheme that seeks to reinstate the original Kettner's restaurant to its former glory and create 24 new rooms of sleeping accommodation above - including three serviced apartments. The original Soho House club will also undergo major refurbishment works to provide new and exciting club spaces for members.

Alongside a sensitive refurbishment and reinstatement of the historic perimeter buildings, a striking new infill pavilion will be added in the centre of the site - allowing all service spaces to be relocated outside the listed buildings and for a full restoration to be undertaken.

The contemporary design of this insertion is proposed with clean, modern details and materials to avoid competition with the historic fabric whilst adding much needed space in a distinctive style.

Meticulous attention to detail has been applied to ensure that the listed buildings become an integral experience of the space - with routes and passages intertwined throughout the new and the old. A series of gently undulating pitched roofs reflect the domestic scale of the area whilst creating a succession of visually arresting spaces to contrast with the period rooms beyond. Ground floor operations include four restaurants and a new club entrance.

The rules of the funding meant that the building had to be delivered on tight schedule and budget, with a target cost per sqm way below the current guidelines. The school considered buying an off-the-peg, prefabricated block, but were unconvinced about the quality of accommodation it would provide. Also, being situated behind the Grade 2 listed Furzedown House, meant that generic prefabricated buildings would be difficult to get through planning.

The 800sqm building includes 8 classrooms and a double-height independent study space with balconies and gallery. It is constructed from Cross Laminated Timber and has a polycarbonate front facade with window openings designed to frame views across the campus and surrounding trees. The building creates an inspiring and stimulating environment for sixth form students to study and socialize in. With little budget for expensive materials or interior finishes, the tectonics and construction of the building - its CLT frame, panels, cladding and openings – are what shapes the building and gives it a strong, robust and contemporary identity.

Innovative, sustainable and economical, the building intends to set a template for new school buildings, achieving maximum architectural output using minimal means.

Work has recently completed on Jamie's Italian, More London that sits within the Hilton Hotel at Tower Bridge. Again, the design broadly follows the established Jamie's style but with a more contemporary feel.

4 Mastmaker Road is a high quality mixed tenure housing project in a high density location with accommodation suitable for families. The project was commissioned by the Ballymore Group and designed by Brady Mallalieu Architects. The social and affordable housing is managed by One Housing Group.

Just south of Canary Wharf the site forms part of the western edge of the Millenium Quarter. This masterplan stipulates a gradual reduction in the height of buildings from Canary Wharf to the north to the residential areas on the Isle of Dogs to the south. East-west linkages are also identified in the masterplan to help integrate the merging Millenium Quarter with the existing Barkantine Estate to the west. One such linkage runs across the southern perimeter of the site, its full width being completed when the adjacent site to the south is developed. The site is very close to public transport links provided by South Quay DLR and Canary Wharf underground station.

The urban design of the proposals negotiates a tricky shift in scale between the low rise Barkantine Estate to the west and the high rise Millenium Quarter to the east. This is achieved using a combination of low and high rise elements:

• Three to seven storey high buildings create positive outside spaces and contribute to the streetscape of Mastmaker Road and Byng Street. Townhouses can be entered directly from the street and have buffer spaces created by planters, entrance canopies and front gardens. Greenwalls with integrated birdboxes add greenery and encourage wildlife whilst roof terraces and projecting bays overlook the street. Two south facing courtyards are included which are linked by a community strip that incorporates community allotments and a community centre with a double height entrance space, training facilities, music recording room, meeting rooms and a rooftop sports pitch. A café/retail space is also provided at the corner of Byng Street and Mastmaker Road contributing to the activity of the area. A basement allows vehicles to park away from pedestrians.

• Two towers respond to the high rise nature of the emerging Millenium Quarter. The towers grow out of the low rise elements avoiding dead spaces at street level and employ an architectural strategy that opens interior spaces to sunlight and distant views across London. As such the skyline of the towers has been eroded to create roof terraces and a distinctive profile that contributes to the wider cityscape.

The elevations of the building are deliberately varied to allow the large building form to respond to local conditions along different edges and created an aesthetic which would not be spoiled by inhabitation: Zinc cladding reinforces the corner of Mastmaker Road and Byng Street and echoes the muted office aesthetic of Canary Wharf. Larch timber weatherboarding is used on the low rise western elevation to private gardens and the playground. Patches of red and orange fibre cement provide a warm contrast to the commercial aesthetic of nearby office buildings. Canopies and projecting balconies make the most of distant views at high level. The organization of the elevation is based upon variation and incident as an antidote to repetition and monotony. This is achieved by using a rainscreen cladding system which is fixed back to a reinforced concrete structure resting upon piled foundations.

The building is connected to the nearby Barkantine Estate Combined Heat and Power network and includes greenwalls, bird boxes, bat boxes, insect bricks and biodiversity roofs which contribute to its ‘Very Good’ EcoHomes rating.

Overall the project contains 199 homes contained in two towers (20 and 23 storeys) and five low rise buildings (3-7 storeys) organized around two south facing courtyards. Homes are provided based upon the following mix: 49x 4B7P, 1x 4B6P, 3x 3B6P, 9x 3B5P, 71x 2B4P, 22x 2B3P and 44x 1B2P. The tenure of the homes is split between private (29%), shared ownership (22%) and social rented (49%). There are 58 different unit types used in the project providing a high level of variation: The high proportion of family sized homes are located at the base of the building having direct access to rear gardens, a playground and courtyard areas. Smaller homes are located higher up in the tower elements of the project having private balconies and roof terraces enjoying views across London.

The mixture of tenures, unit sizes and unit types encourages the creation of a balanced, sustainable community, attracting single and dual occupants as well as families. The mix also helps to encourage integration and to promote acceptance between different groups

Laycock Street is a high density mixed tenure development close to Highbury and Islington Station designed by Brady Mallalieu Architects for the Murphy Group. It contains 55 flats and 13 large houses at a density of 661 habitable rooms per hectare arranged around a central courtyard together with an NHS medical centre.

Four blocks are arranged around the central courtyard area and vary from seven stories facing Laycock Street, matching the scale of adjacent buildings, to four storeys to the south and west. The front block is planned using a ‘scissor’ type arrangement ensuring all flats have a southern aspect.

The elevations to all the blocks have been designed to emphasise individuality, variety and layering using a broad palette of materials – copper, zinc, hardwood, self coloured render and aluminium. Each facade employs a slightly different handling of this palette to provide further variation across private and social tenures to ensure no distinction is made. The block facing Laycock Street has a reinforced concrete structural frame, clad in white aluminium panels, which provides an underlying and unifying rhythm overlaid with layers of glazing and timber or copper insulated panels. The arrangement of solid and void expresses the interior spaces on the elevations: Double height living spaces have tall glazed panels and bedroom spaces have larger solid panels to protect privacy. The consulting rooms to the doctors surgery are expressed as zinc volumes which is again repeated in the eastern block becoming balconies and entrances to flats.

The central courtyard is car-free and publically accessible. The landscape design was also completed by Brady Mallalieu Architects and provides a social and recreational focus. Sinuous timber and concrete benches partially enclose outdoor rooms for use of the residents and provide a visual focus when seen from above.

“Islington Central Medical Centre Medical Centre” is on Laycock Street London N1 occupying the ground and basement floors. Purpose built for a local group practice of GP’s is provides 15 consulting rooms, 2 separate reception and waiting areas together with full back up facilities including a minor operations room, library and meeting rooms. The design strategy for the space ensures that good levels of sunlight and daylight enter into the various consulting, treatment, administration and waiting rooms. This is achieved by using a variety of cross sectional devices including a curved double height atrium space with south facing glazing allowing sunlight to penetrate deep within the basement plan. The atrium space also helps visitors to orientate themselves within the building and maintain an awareness of the weather and time of day as they wait to see a doctor or nurse. Carefully chosen materials balance the strict hygiene requirements for infection control with the creation of warm, tactile spaces that are a pleasure to use.

Thirty three new homes have been created at 22-28 Underwood Road in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The site is very close to Whitechapel Road and a short walk from Brick Lane and Spitalfields.

The form of the building emerged through a careful urban analysis of the very mixed local area which comprises four to five storey buildings alongside two storey suburban houses and tower blocks. The building that formerly stood on the site belonged to the first category and had a footprint that filled virtually the entire area. This was an accumulation of smaller buildings some of which had historically been used as a Jewish Maternity Hospital though had since been used by various groups including the local council. The new buildings are arranged in two parts: a four to five storey building facing Underwood Road and a row of three courtyard houses to the rear.
The four to five storey block creates a new frontage along Underwood Road the scale of which is handled using a variety of separate volumes made with different brick types, brick details and window arrangements. This is punctuated with concrete panels inset with lettering identifying the building address together with panels and banded lettering describing the history of the site as a Jewish Maternity Hospital. The banded lettering is built into a wall which creates zone of defensible space used for entrances and light courts.

The ground floor of the building has four maisonettes that can be entered independently rather than through the communal lobby spaces serving the flats above. The maisonettes are all double sided, typically with kitchen/dining spaces overlooking the street and living spaces opening onto a terrace at the rear. The lower floor of the maisonettes have bedrooms served by light courts.

Upper floors of the building contain flats arranged around two communal lobbies all of which are naturally lit and accessed by a lift and staircase which has windows framing views along the street. The majority of flats are dual aspect with any single aspect flats being south facing one bed flats only. All flats have balconies to the south facing rear facade which are lined with vertical timbers, softening the brick facades to create a more inhabited, informal character and balance privacy with openness. The higher balconies and a communal roof terrace enjoy fantastic views towards the City of London skyline.

A row of three L-shaped courtyard houses have been carefully tucked into the rear of the plot creating a linear walled garden space including a play area. The houses are lower in the ground than the front block and consist of two storey elements running north-south with single storey elements running east-west. The single storey elements allows light to the flats and space beyond. Windows and doors have been aligned to maximise light penetration and avoid views to both the front block and neighbours to the immediate south.

The form of the buildings balance larger areas of glazing to the south, shaded by the balconies) with smaller areas to the north. The walls and insulated to 0.15 W/m2K with an air tightness of around 0.35 m3/(m2·h). The building achieves level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and is served by a communal gas powered boiler in the basement and roof mounted photovoltaic panels. The houses have their own separate boilers and photovoltaic arrays.

Overall the development provides: 2x 4B7P maisonettes, 7x 3B5P (3x houses, 2x maisonettes, 1x flat and 1x wheelchair adapted flat), 10x 2B4P flats, 4x 2B3P flats and 10x 1B2P flats.

The accommodation comprises 5 bedrooms, 3 with en-suites and dressing areas. The entertaining, dining and kitchen areas are all open plan and lead out to a double-height space connecting the living are in the ground floor directly. The house is located in the area of Greenwich, specifically on Langton Way - a private road.

Traditional materials have been used such as water-struck brick and stone detailing. Modest use of a contrasting timber seeks to compliment the context
of Langton Way whilst the crisp detailing and elevations ensure it is of
it’s time.

Beetles + Huxley is one of Europe's leading and most innovative photography galleries. The gallery, founded in 2010 was in need of a larger exhibition space to host prestigious exhibitions of some of the world's most sought after and influential photographers.

Space previously designated for storage is incorporated into the main gallery area at ground floor. This significantly increases the compact exhibition space into a generous, light filled gallery.

A new timber screen has been installed to delineate between public and administration areas whilst maintaining a strong connection between the two spaces.

The project includes a comprehensive restoration of the old hothouse in the Botanic Garden in Aarhus originally designed by C.F. Møller.
In the restoration the palm house will become a new botanical knowledge centre, at the same time as the complex is extended with a new, 18 metres high tropical hothouse, in which the public can go exploring among the tree-tops.
The existing snail-shaped hothouse was well adapted to its surroundings, and it has been important to bear the existing architectural values in mind when designing the new one. The new hothouse also uses the organic form, which is, at the same time, based on energy-conserving design solutions and on a knowledge of materials, indoor climate and technology. Advanced calculations have ensured that form and energy consumption interact in the best possible manner. The domed shape and the building's orientation in relation to the points of the compass have been chosen because this precise format gives the smallest surface area coupled with the largest volume, as well as the best possible sunlight incidence in winter, and the least possible in summer.

The extension of the Panum complex has been designed with the aim of creating the best possible environment for modern research and teaching.
A parallel objective has been to create a building which will stand out as an identity-creating, sculptural linchpin for the entire Panum complex and the university's Nørre Campus (i.e. the North Campus) as a whole. The new complex is also intended to act as the generator of a positive urban development in its immediate neighbourhood and in relation to the entire city.
At sixteen storeys tall, the Maersk Building will provide the complex with a unifying and dynamic focal point in a clear and readable form. But just as a tree has its root network, the tower rests upon on a series of smaller buildings which contain the common functions: the auditoriums, classrooms, canteen, show lab, conference rooms and book café. The most striking part of the root network is the extensive science plaza, which will form the new social hub of the complex. The plaza accommodates the main entrance and will serve as the main social meeting-place, linking all functions between the new and the existing Panum complex.
The new Panum complex will have an open and outward-looking appearance, with a transparent ground floor that will help to blur the boundaries between the building and the city. The public will also be invited to visit the top of the tower, where there will be a café, lounge and viewing points.
Between the buildings, new plazas will arise, together with internal garden spaces equipped with alcoves and seating. These will function as an extension of the study rooms and offices, but will also add new green oases to the city. A campus thoroughfare passing through the area, together with pedestrian and cycle paths, will create a vibrant urban park with intimate links to the surrounding city.
With its organic forms, the building expresses signal power and innovation, but is also adapted to the existing Panum complex through its colour scheme, rhythm and gravity.
The façade is built up in the form of a grid structure of storey-high window fields that break up the building's large scale.
The project will be pioneering in energy usage, with Denmark's most energy-efficient laboratories, in which waste energy from the ventilation system will be recycled in the overall energy balance of the building to a hitherto unprecedented degree.

C.F. Møller developed a proposal which refurbished and transformed a two bedroom Mayfair apartment in London.
The internal layout was improved, swapping the location of the second bedroom with the kitchen, so that an open plan space was created with kitchen, dining and living areas all flowing into each other.
C.F. Møller created a more modern look for the apartment by replacing carpets with timber flooring, and completely modernising internal bathrooms and services.
The energy usage was reduced by replacing the existing sashes with double glazed units and installing a modern low energy boiler.
As the apartment is located in the Mayfair Conservation Area, planning permission for the replacement of windows and new skylight had to be obtained.

The new Gallery A opens up a lower-floor space to visitors, turning a former storage space into a new permanent gallery featuring some 218 works by artists from the 13th to early 20th centuries. Room A, as it was formerly known, was built in 1975 and used to store paintings for show on the main-floor galleries.
C.F. Møller worked with the National Gallery's design team on the project that has transformed the formerly labyrinthine space into an elegant gallery with state-of-the-art lighting, subtle wall colouring and a choice of paintings divided into three sections - Renaissance, Baroque and post-1800 - featuring works by artists such as Botticelli, Emile-Jean-Horace Vernet and the Barbizon School.

C.F. Møller's project, totalling 185 sustainable housing units, sits in a prominent position and forms a gateway to the new East Village. The design uses the variation in scale and height to create a visual identity for the four interlinking apartment buildings, at the same time ensuring maximum flow of daylight for all homes.
The homes achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4, this due to the low energy consumption and further energy saving measures such as heat recovery systems. At the same time sustainability is ensured by choice of good quality and durable materials that age beautifully and require minimum maintenance.

The second phase of the Darwin Centre is an extension of the famous Natural History Museum in London, taking the form of a huge eight-storey concrete cocoon, surrounded by a glass atrium.
The Natural History Museum is both one of the UK's top five visitor attractions, and a world-leading science research centre. The architecture of the Darwin Centre reflects this dual role, and reveals to the public for the first time the incredible range and diversity of the Museum's collections and the cutting-edge scientific research they support.
The centrepiece is made to appear like a large silk cocoon, and forms the inner protective element that houses the museum’s unique collection of 17 million insects and 3 million plants. The shape and size give the visitor a tangible understanding of the volume of the collections contained within. The regulation of temperature and humidity reduce the risk of pest infestations ensuring that the collections will be protected and preserved for many years to come. The exposed thermal mass of the continuous sprayed reinforced concrete shell maintains a stable internal environment, and minimizes energy loading.
Public access to the scientific core of the second phase of the Darwin Centre takes the form of a visitor route up and through the cocoon, overlooking the science and collection areas. Visitors can experience the Darwin Centre as a compelling and interactive learning space, observing the scientific and research activities without interrupting scientific work in progress.

Providing a much needed update to this family home, the property was extended to the side to accommodate essential ancillary spaces, and to the rear to provide a generous dining area and a lightweight link to the garden. Drawing from mid-century modern furniture design and industrial aesthetics, a rich and varied palate of materials were employed to create this warm, vibrant and eclectic arrangement of living spaces.

Gaining Conservation Consent for demolition and Planning Consent for this new build house from Kensington & Chelsea Council for this development was quite challenging. The elevation as built was negotiated and designed to be fairly inconspicuous within the terrace and to reflect it's history as two terraced houses, hence the incorporation of a vertical recess in the centre of the elevation. We argued that the new house would be a major improvement and add to the variety of architectural styles within the streetscape of this quiet cul-de-sac.

The house is used as a single-family dwelling and is arranged over three floors plus a new excavated basement level which covers the entire site.

The front door opens up into a double height entrance hall with a cantilevered bespoke designed timber staircase and galleried sitting room above.

The ground floor is configured as a very large open plan entertaining area with seating area, dining area and an open plan Boffi kitchen. To the rear is patio garden and a lightwell for the basement bedrooms. At first floor level is a large master bedroom with a marble clad ensuite and a more formal sitting room with adjacent study. At second floor are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a roof terrace. There are two further bedrooms, both with ensuites and various ancillary spaces at basement level.

Hardwood timber and marble flooring is used throughout.

All the existing internal walls and suspended ceilings were removed. The main concept behind the works was to make the apartment appear larger than it really is. This was achieved by using a minimum palate of materials and colours with clean uninterrupted lines and allowing surfaces and planes to flow and slide past each other. The apartment has great natural light and this was further enhanced with the lighting scheme. The result is a clean, streamlined space that is great for entertaining.

The compact kitchen area was raised 1.4m off the level of the main floor area in order to provide some separation between the kitchen and the sitting room while still keeping an open plan feel to the space.

This enabled a ‘crawl space’ below the kitchen to be formed for useful storage. The kitchen was still kept very ‘open’ so that space flows through it without creating any feeling of enclosure. The kitchen was designed so that it almost did not look like a kitchen. When not in use the sinks are covered with flush stainless steel lids (as in yacht kitchens) to give more worktop area when needed.

There are two staircases - one at the end of the space, the other leading directly into the master bedroom with a ‘secret’ door panel next to the panels hiding a work-station to the right of the kitchen area.

The main idea behind was to create a totally flexible space that can either be totally open or closed off. The upstairs bedroom spaces can all be sub-divided off from each other using hidden full height sliding panels while the upstairs mezzanine in turn can be closed off from downstairs by gliding across the bespoke made shutters.

These shutters were specially designed give total acoustic and blackout separation to the upper mezzanine spaces. They are made from solid oak with mirror strips and specially designed gaskets. The shutters help to give the apartment the feeling of a courtyard with shutters looking down over the space.

At one end are specially commissioned linen curtains which are combined with blackout curtains on the upper level. The main bathroom has riven slate cladding and the shower head has been adapted to internally light up the water with differing programmable colours.

Structural works were carried out allowing removal of walls to produce a large open plan sitting room with a kitchen at one end and access to a balcony at the other end. A new steel frame was inserted within the ceiling/floor void above into order to raise the finished ceiling height to 3250mm high in the new sitting room area.

The result is a larger open plan sitting room with a kitchen at one end and access to a balcony at the other end. The rest of the new accommodation amounts to two bedrooms and a bathroom.

The kitchen becomes the focal point in the sitting room and is designed as a strong visual element. While the overall design has very clean streamlined lines, the use of colour allows it to become an integrated part of the room as well as an actual installation/piece of art in the same way as hanging a painting or mobile on a wall. The colours were selected to compliment the ‘Blow Up’ screen print owned by the client. The idea is that the kitchen does not look like a kitchen.

The space at the side of the house was very narrow (less than 3 metres) resulting in a slender but deep (14 metres) extension that was positioned halfway between the existing ground and basement levels but level with the front and rear gardens.

The side extension houses a utility room and kitchen/garden room. The kitchen joinery was all purpose-designed/made incorporating a mobile table/island unit that can be wheeled out to the garden.

Due to the narrow site constraints, the rear of the extension was opened up as far as possible. Sliding/folding rear doors pull back to allow the internal spaces to ‘flow’ out to the garden. The illusion of greater space is created by building the garden room out on slightly raised ‘floating’ stone plinth The cantilevered roof structure over is supported on a slender 89mm steel column.

Mirror and coloured glass is utilised throughout the kitchen area to convey an impression of more space and several skylights add a sense of greater volume.

Existing basement walls were demolished and new oak clad joinery units to house AV equipment and general storage etc were built. A stone clad wet room was also installed at basement level.

A total area of 750sq.m (a 200 sq.m extension and 550sq.m conversion of existing) houses two new classrooms and a Fitness Centre at ground level with a new Library/learning Centre at first floor.

The challenge here was how to successfully extend a nasty looking teaching block. We chose to build a vibrant colourful structure that straddles the end of the block almost as a kind of articulated bookend.

The two storey extension element uses bespoke designed colour-stained Finnish softwood laminated ‘fins’ that support both the first floor structure and the roof. Unusually for this material, the structure is completely external and exposed to the elements and after much research was pressure impregnated in order that it could perform to these conditions.

In between each fin are aluminium grating panels that provide solar control as well as structural stiffening to the external structure. The roof is clad with silver ‘Trespa’ panels and is designed to give the impression of floating/sliding across the exposed roof beams.

Internally, the library has been designed as an adaptable open plan area that can be used for different ways of teaching – there is raised area of carpet clad cubed modules for seating, bespoke designed tables and benches and an enclosed curved ‘arena’ space.

The accommodation is arranged over the ground and basement floors.

The ground floor is for the retailing/merchandise storage of upmarket Asian teas. There is a tasting counter with bar stools at one end for customers to try the various teas before purchasing or just to drink tea.

The general concept is one of reinterpretation/modernising of traditional oriental images and experiences without immediate reference. It is about demystifying and re-connecting with the lost tradition of tea drinking by suggesting origins without actually physically needing to be in China or Japan i.e. you can be in London or any other city or town. The aim is to surprise or challenge people with the design without scaring them with culturally specific references.

The long joinery wall serves both to display the product within mirrored spot-lit open boxes and also for product storage behind backlit spun vinyl screens which were made from material normally used for place mats. All the joinery is purpose made from specifically distressed stained pitch pine. The basement is more specialised with linen curtains wrapping around the perimeter and teapot displays within suspended spot-lit perspex boxes hanging from the ceiling.

We were also responsible for the design and implementation of the signage and graphics throughout.

This project involved the complete strip-out and subsequent fit-out of a 90 sq.m ground floor retail space and 60 sq.m basement. At ground floor level is a 7 metre long chilled cabinet for displaying fine patisserie, chocolates and ice cream in a temperature controlled environment. Adjacent to this is a dessert bar with seating for 7. There are also three separate areas of banquette seating to give another 16 covers.

One of the main ideas behind the design of the interior was to think about chocolate in terms of it’s origins and how it is procured – designing a predictable dark brown interior to ‘represent chocolate’ was something we actively avoided. This resulted in features such as the gold leaf artwork for the corner banquette depicting cocoa trees and the three-dimensionally arranged hessian clad padded panels behind the counters to reference the hessian sacks that cocoa beans are packed in at various plantations around the world.

The custom-made clear glass lighting pendants to the rear are loosely intended to resemble cocoa pods. The remainder of the palette consists of reclaimed pine flooring, limestone counters and surfaces, burnt orange leather, oak joinery and a long spray-lacquered ceiling raft to unify the various elements, highlight the length of the space and help to draw the eye down to the back of the shop. At basement level is a demonstration kitchen where chocolate courses and workshops will take place.

The works comprised the refurbishment of the house including two new bathrooms and a new kitchen and dining area to the rear. While the new decor of the main house is fairly traditional in keeping with the age of the property, the main concept for the kitchen dining area was to produce a striking modern streamlined space that also gave an illusion of greater size.

A purpose made cream leather banquette was incorporated into the new storage joinery on one side to maximise the available space while on the opposite side a mirror splashback gives those seated at the banquette a view of the rear garden. The new dining table was also specifically designed for this space.

Cream fossil limestone slabs with underfloor heating help to create a homogonous look coordinating with the cream spray lacquered joinery and the ceiling.

A mirrored wall slides across the entrance area of this rear garden space to totally separate it from the rest of the house as well as bring in more light and the garden views.

The unit is planned as a totally open plan one bedroom space. The bedroom has a large walk-in wardrobe area lined in stained oak panels, mirror and glass as well as a travertine lined ensuite bathroom with a separate wetroom in the original church turret.

There is also a separate area with a large oversized built in L shaped sofa with projector and electronic screen. This area can also be partitioned off by a 4 metre long sliding stained oak wall to form an additional bedroom when needed. A bed slides out of one of the joinery units.

Electronically controlled diffuser curtains give greater privacy at night and due to the high degree of glazing, comfort cooling has been installed throughout.

The base build ceiling heights were relatively low at 2.6m so 'floating ceiling rafts' and raised coffers with recessed lighting have been designed specially to give a sense of greater volume and height as well as hiding the structural beams and providing a sense of drama to the space.

There is an integrated AV and lighting sy stem throughout with ceiling mounted speakers to help create a seamless look.

The building works involved the complete fit-out of a 4.5m high ‘shell & core’ retail space with new services throughout.

The design of this space is a development of the Tinderbox Islington N1 Centre concept. We have built a larger mezzanine and booth structure all clad with American black walnut ‘brick’ panels. There is a large feature wall clad with different shades of green and stained MDF strips to match the front of the main counter. A number of unusual finishes are used such as the natural sisal matting cladding to the large expanse of wall adjacent to the staircase and at high level above the windows.

Similar to the Tinderbox N1 Centre, one of the main concepts is to create a wide range of varying seating experiences to suit different uses – whether this be individual booths on both levels, long banquettes, long communal tables, perimeter counter seating, central concrete plinths, raised mezzanine seating for laptop users, raised ‘stepped seating’ and outdoor seating.

Many of the light fittings were bespoke designed such as the grouped oversized ‘coffee cup’ shades and the 'scattered' lampshades over the communal long tables.

The majority of the ground floor was opened up to produce a very large open plan entertaining area. Separate music/AV room and study rooms were also created.

Upstairs, the existing bedrooms were reconfigured with the addition of new bathrooms.

We negotiated a full width (11 metres) rear extension from Haringey Planners with high ceilings and a large expense of glazed sliders. Large skylights are inserted to the roof of this extension in order to bring natural light into the centre part of the open plan living areas. The front of the house was also extended out further towards the road.

All joinery throughout is purpose designed and made with spray lacquered MDF panels, coloured glass, Corian worktops and oak veneered storage cabinets in the music/AV room and study.

The entire ground floor has underfloor heating installed with fully programmable lighting, curtains and AV systems all coordinated.

The entire exterior of the new extensions are built or clad using red bricks to match the retained elements of the house.

The roof of the rear extension was planted with a Sedum green roof in order to improve views out from the bedrooms above, improve heat loss and provide a natural environment for wildlife.

All internal walls were removed and a new structural frame was inserted to support the four floors above. This has resulted in a completely open plan space with sliding walls and screens that can be moved dissecting the space in various configurations.

The main concept behind the internal planning of the flat is flexibility. The main space is 11 metres long and forms a great entertaining area. There is however, a full height top hung acoustic wall that can be pulled out from a hidden recess to bisect the main space and form a rigid partition with a separate entry door. The space can therefore function as either a two-bedroom dwelling or as a one-bed with a double aspect sitting/dining room.

Both of the bathrooms have been placed against the north-facing end of terrace flank wall with two windows benefiting from natural daylight – the shower is glazed on three sides with 3.6 metre high etched glass screens and glows like a giant light box bringing light into the centre of the space.

Raised platforms have been formed over both of the bathrooms and these house vast storage areas as well as the boiler and hot water storage. These platforms add to the illusion of making the internal spaces seem larger.

At ground floor level is a takeaway kiosk while at first floor is the main coffee shop.

The building works involved the complete fit-out of a 3.6m high ‘shell & core’ space that was originally intended as a crche for the N1 Centre.

Linking the kiosk to the main level is a staircase that was transformed from a dark and claustrophobic escape stairs by removing walls, cladding the walls with stained timber strips and new lighting.

One of the main concepts was to create a wide range of varying seating experiences to suit different uses – whether this be low headroom booths, a long banquette, a long communal table, raised mezzanine seating for laptop users, counter seating, raised ‘stepped seating’ and terrace seating!

Many of the light fittings were bespoke designed such as the ‘coffee cup’ shades attached to the long ceiling raft. Also the 'scattered' lampshades over the communal long table which become framed by the new plate glass window to Upper Street when viewed externally.

The main objective here was to add a completely new, modern and welcoming administration and reception area in front of the existing entrance to suit the size of the school today and better encourage parents to access the school and facilitate dealing with visitors. To help achieve this, we injected more feeling of light and colour in order to enhance natural lighting as well as designing a lighting scheme that enhances all features after dark.

The new building is connected to the existing by a minimally framed glazed link that just ‘touches’ the existing building. The idea being that as you pass through the new building and into the glazed link, you are still able to see the entire existing faade due to the transparency of the new link. We also remodelled the existing foyer space and provided new meeting rooms and a teacher training facility within the existing building.

The central raised flat roofed ‘portico’ roof structure is supported on timber-clad columns that reference the materials and colours of the library building that we designed for the same school – previously named Longford Community School. The roof overhangs are very important to control direct sunlight and for the thermal performance of the building.

We designed a Trespa clad structure that sits on top of the existing building frontage and acts a kind of signage ‘beacon’ particularly after dark when it is lit up.

All internal furniture (except chairs) was purpose designed by us.

Located in the heart of the Dartmoor National Park and set within 60 acres of woodland and meadow, the 18th Century granite farmhouse and associated barns group to form West Yard Farm. Unoccupied for a number of years, the clients bought the dilapidated property at auction, looking for the ultimate ‘project’.

The clients brief was to turn the farmhouse and barns into a large, modern family home with annex space for various flexible use. An important wish was for the dwelling to be as self-sufficient as possible.

Although the buildings were not listed, they were located within the conservation area of North Bovey and the National Park, and thus a key consideration was their respectful reinstatement and extension. The modern interventions were well received by the Dartmoor National Park planning authority, who praised the clarity of separation between old and new. Despite some scepticism in the local community; the proposals were unanimously supported by the Development Management Committee.

After stripping away the sprawl of incoherent 1950’s additions, the original building cluster could be appreciated and subsequently added to. To provide the level of accommodation required by the owners, a lightweight single storey steel framed glass structure was inserted between the farmhouse and barn. This created a new heart to the building, housing a contemporary kitchen and sitting room with direct access to the gardens, and acted as the main circulation node. The farmhouse and barn provided the more intimate living spaces and sleeping quarters.

The milking parlour to the west of the group provided the annex accommodation required. The brick and stone building was bisected, and a glass and green-oak framed structure replaced the southern half of the building. This brought light and space into the building. The new zinc roof ties the building together, and references the agricultural heritage of the plot.

West Yard Farm was designed around its intended users from the outset. The two wings of the farmhouse and attached barn provided independent spaces for both adults and children respectively. The annex barn provides additional space that allows an evolving flexible use of the buildings as the family grows and changes their usage patterns.

Accessibility throughout the property has been vastly improved, although level access within the farmhouse was not possible within the confines of the existing buildings. The annex barn provides ambulant disabled accessible accommodation.

The client’s brief for a self-sufficient dwelling was a key design factor. The surrounding woodland provides a renewable supply of fuel for the four wood burning stoves located throughout the property, and a ground source heat pump provides secondary heating. Electrical usage is offset by a PV panel array on a barn roof, and solar thermal panels provide much of the hot water requirement. High fabric insulation levels brought the buildings up to current regulation requirements.

Located in the heart of the Dartmoor National Park and set within 60 acres of woodland and meadow, the 18th Century granite farmhouse and associated barns group to form West Yard Farm. Unoccupied for a number of years, the clients bought the dilapidated property at auction, looking for the ultimate ‘project’.

The clients brief was to turn the farmhouse and barns into a large, modern family home with annex space for various flexible use. An important wish was for the dwelling to be as self-sufficient as possible.

Although the buildings were not listed, they were located within the conservation area of North Bovey and the National Park, and thus a key consideration was their respectful reinstatement and extension. The modern interventions were well received by the Dartmoor National Park planning authority, who praised the clarity of separation between old and new. Despite some scepticism in the local community; the proposals were unanimously supported by the Development Management Committee.

After stripping away the sprawl of incoherent 1950’s additions, the original building cluster could be appreciated and subsequently added to. To provide the level of accommodation required by the owners, a lightweight single storey steel framed glass structure was inserted between the farmhouse and barn. This created a new heart to the building, housing a contemporary kitchen and sitting room with direct access to the gardens, and acted as the main circulation node. The farmhouse and barn provided the more intimate living spaces and sleeping quarters.

The milking parlour to the west of the group provided the annex accommodation required. The brick and stone building was bisected, and a glass and green-oak framed structure replaced the southern half of the building. This brought light and space into the building. The new zinc roof ties the building together, and references the agricultural heritage of the plot.

West Yard Farm was designed around its intended users from the outset. The two wings of the farmhouse and attached barn provided independent spaces for both adults and children respectively. The annex barn provides additional space that allows an evolving flexible use of the buildings as the family grows and changes their usage patterns.

Accessibility throughout the property has been vastly improved, although level access within the farmhouse was not possible within the confines of the existing buildings. The annex barn provides ambulant disabled accessible accommodation.

The client’s brief for a self-sufficient dwelling was a key design factor. The surrounding woodland provides a renewable supply of fuel for the four wood burning stoves located throughout the property, and a ground source heat pump provides secondary heating. Electrical usage is offset by a PV panel array on a barn roof, and solar thermal panels provide much of the hot water requirement. High fabric insulation levels brought the buildings up to current regulation requirements.

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Ashford Gateway was a substantial flagship project for Kent County Council's countywide programme of regional Gateways. Constructed on the site of the old town library, the project was set within the Town Conservation Area. Its design had to respect it's prominent context yet be 'iconic'.

The building was designed around the Gateway concept of seamless integration of public and voluntary services and facilities. The building therefore had to be flexible in its provision spaces for a multiplicity of demands upon it, and potentially adaptable in the future as that demand changes and develops. Some spaces were committed to specific uses but others could be used by many stakeholders with differing need.

The primary functions in the building are lending library, reference library, Adult Education, civic ceremonies, Local Authority customer services and social services accommodation. Ancillary accommodation includes a public cafe.

The design revolves around a full height atrium with its prominent stair risiing through. The entrance relates to the public route through the significant public space which is Memorial Gardens. The design incorporated a grand arc fronting onto Church Road - the primary public realm. A lower element faces Queen Street and utilises characteristics of the historic street. The facade responds to the differing need for openness at the 3 levels. Wall and glass are integrated in a fascinating way by what became affectionately known as 'the icycles'.

Construction commenced on site at the end of April 2010 and completion was achieved at the beginning of July 2011.

What is of note about this project is the way each party worked for the better of the project as a whole. All parties respected the Design and the Stakeholders’ demands for Quality. Emphasis was on collaboration throughout.

We were employed directly by the school for the design and procurement of a new hall designed for dual school/community use. The project comprised a hall of 140m², a replacement nursery, which had to be demolished to provide the site, IT facilities and ancillary kitchen which doubled as a food technology teaching facility.

This project was in a particularly sensitive context. The site was very tight, bordered on one side by a right of way footpath. Both the existing school and the neighbouring church are listed. The location of the footpath meant that natural light to the hall had to be achieved by the use of top-light and high level glazing.

The client required that the hall be used for community use. In this context it had to be self-contained with its own separate entrance, toilet facilities and kitchen/food preparation area. The latter was designed such that it could also be used for food technology lessons.

Ben Adams Architects were appointed to complete the fit out of the new recording studios for Soundtree, an award winning group of recording artists.

Previously located in rented premises, Soundtree acquired their own building near Old Street. Working closely with an acoustic engineer and the recording artists, Ben Adams Architects designed 4 recording studios, a research room, and an open plan office space to fit within the constraints of the existing building. In order to prevent the recording studios from feeling like sealed boxes, the building’s existing features were exploited and incorporated into the design.

Chiquet is a detached house replacing an existing smaller dwelling on the banks of the River Thames in Weybridge. It is located in the green belt within the river floodplain and is part of a local community called Hamm Court. The design proposals reflect the requirements of green belt policy and local policy concerns.

The form of the house is derived in part from a series of viewing angles as shown above. The front roof line is angled back to minimise the visual impact of this mass from the river side while the ascending volumes on the North (road) side diminish the impact from the road. The ground floor of the house is lifted above the ground by 2.3m to meet current floodplain guidance.

The form maximises the use of natural light, and the plan is designed to enhance environmental and acoustic separation between the living and sleeping areas.

The Bryant Building is an existing late 19th century former warehouse situated on Great Eastern St in Shoreditch London. The character of the building is typical of the area, with a steel frame structure clad with London stock brickwork. It was originally used as a workshop and warehouse for furniture makers.

The refurbishment of the building restored the existing cast iron columns, beams and brickwork to their original character to reflect the character of the former warehouse. The works included replacement of the existing windows to a high performance timber sash window, lowering the ground floor for increased accessibility and infilling of the light-well to create an increase in floor space. A new reception to ground floor has been created with a polished concrete floor and a bespoke patinated brass desk. New exposed services and lighting were installed throughout.

In addition to this refurbishment, eight apartments will form a new roof extension to the existing building known as Willow Street Apartments.

Refurbishment and extension of an existing, semi-detached Victorian house in Highbury, home to a musician couple. The house is 5 stories, including the lower ground floor, and was previously divided up into separate flats.

The proposal is to return the house into a single family dwelling, introducing a lower ground floor extension and a terrace to the third floor. The ground floor will be opened to form an open plan living, dining and kitchen space, bedrooms on the first floor, and an impressive master bed, bath and study occupying the second floor.

In order to allow the couple to work from home, a recording studio will be introduced into the lower ground floor. Both the front and rear garden will be redesigned to extend the house outdoors.

The two-bedroom house is entered through a discreet gate into a private courtyard which leads to the entrance. Adjacent to this is the second bedroom with a large bi-folding window directly onto the courtyard. Bedrooms and bathroom are situated at ground floor and the first floor comprises the living room and kitchen areas. The 'picture frame' window facing Denton Road has clear views of mature gardens.

A radical restoration and conversion of a Grade II listed timber barn on a working farm into a large family home and artist studios. The project used innovative construction techniques to meet conservation officers’ requirements to retain an industrial aesthetic while creating a hugely successful and sustainable building. A key feature is large rooflights concealed within the roof, which allow light to fill the building while remaining invisible from outside view. Recycled and reclaimed materials have been used extensively to complete a fascinating and remarkable building.

Chantry Farm is a conversion of two adjacent Grade II listed timber framed barns into a single family home. In order to retain the character of the barns while providing contemporary living spaces, the design juxtaposes an external design in keeping with the historic character of the barns with a contemporary interior. As much of the existing structure has been retained as possible, while inside a high-specification finish reveals the history of the barns and provides exceptional living spaces.

Storey’s Way is a Grade II listed house by Baillie Scott, built around 1929. We replaced an unsympathetic 1980s extension with a new contemporary glazed pavilion, creating a light-filled room and additional living space. The extension is minimal in form and the materials used - glass, brick and steel – allow the extension to be clearly distinguished from the original period structure. The new pavilion stands alone from the original house and is fully glazed to ensure visibility of the main building. It is accessed via a glazed connection which dovetails into the frame of the original loggia, thus restoring the original threshold of inside and out.

As part of a complex of farm buildings, the Quaker Barns have been converted into two dwellings. The form and details of the original barns were emphasised in order to avoid the usual domestic language often found in such conversions. The barns are constructed from local materials such as brick and oak, and recycled resources such as straw bale, fibreglass, and car window seals.

The Guntons Building is a key building on the Norwich University of the Arts campus. Before our intervention it was dark, dated and difficult to navigate. By inserting a large glazed atrium at the heart of the building we have utterly transformed its appearance and usability. A striking steel staircase now connects departments that were once separated, while daylight is brought deep into the creative studios. The atrium gives the building a strong contemporary identity, and allows staff and students to interact more easily. A refurbished entrance offers a more welcoming presence for the University and a friendlier face to passers by.

Cringleford Hall is a Grade II listed Norfolk home, built predominantly in the 17th century. Our 21st century addition is a garden pavilion, replacing an unattractive modern conservatory and offering a more sensitive and contemporary presence. A new dining room and living area opens fully onto the garden through full height glazed doors, while a new solid timber floor and light decorative palette unites the original house and the extension. Old and new elements blend seamlessly and comfortably together, creating an entirely new relationship between the house and its large garden.

This contemporary family home overlooks St Ouen’s Bay on Jersey, and replaces a drab bungalow with a superior contemporary scheme that fully does justice to its setting. Walking around the site reveals the character and drama of the house: from an entrance elevation featuring an attractive colonnade and a Martello tower-like entrance hall, to the garden façade’s rich mix of geometries and materials overlooking the sea. Inside, a series of open and more intimate spaces accommodate contemporary family life.

Constructed entirely of timber and cloaked in an undulating zinc roof, the £2 million Salvation Army Citadel Corps in Chelmsford provides 900 sq m new accommodation for the mission. The project illustrates our commitment to pioneering modern methods of construction to maximise the potential of sustainable materials. The building is constructed using a cross-laminated timber panel system, which is akin to jumbo plywood and offers all the advantages of reinforced concrete construction without the environmental cost. A rich variety of façade treatments – including a spectacular tower – offers much to pasers-by and lifts and otherwise drab neighbourhood.

A refurbishment of a 1930s semidetached house to accommodate a generous kitchen and dining area.

Large expanses of glazing to the rear facade of the extension help to ensure a strong connection between inside and outside.Seating is created in the deep window reveals which, along with storage underneath, makes use of every bit of space in the new part of the home.

Use of oak in the entrance area as both flooring and cladding help to create a warm contemporary interior that is home to a large family - and their dog...!
The staircase leading to the bedrooms on the upper floor is also crafted from oak, with a large rooflight creating a welcoming and homely feel to the house.

Cedar House pilots a new prototype for cost-effective new-build modern housing. It deploys innovative off-site construction, which simplifies the building process without compromising the architecture of the house. The cedar reads as a dramatic and sleek protective cloak that sits harmoniously within its countryside surroundings.

Working closely with Tower Hamlets Conservation team, we rebuilt the C20th closet wing of this Grade 2 listed house in timber and glass, carefully providing long views through to the garden from the entrance hall. The garden was terraced down to give level access out from a new family room, which is roofed in one huge sheet of glass. A secret gate between the neighbouring gardens gives children and adults free reign between houses.

The replacement dwelling is set within an 18.5 acre plot, located adjacent to ancient woodland and heath, within the New Forest National Park. The massing, form and orientation of the new building has been carefully conceived in order that the proposals minimise the impact on the site and its surroundings. The main dwelling and guest building both have low rise green roofs.

The buildings are orientated to maximise solar gain and utilise ground source heat pump technology and a log boiler for heating and hot water requirements. Excavated material from the new basement and pool area has been re-used in the earth-berming to provide a visual screen to the north and help to reduce the sound impact of the nearby dual carriageway. The proposals also incorporate rain water harvesting, grey water recycling and a natural swimming pond to further increase biodiversity within the site. The materials used throughout are sustainable, durable and in harmony with the site and its surroundings.

This project was awarded ‘Best Residential Project in the UK’ in the 2010 Daily Telegraph, Home Building & Renovating Awards, and was runner-up in the Grand Designs Awards 2010, and shortlisted for the RIBA Awards in 2011.

This Garden Room for a private client is located amongst stunning New Forest landscape. The structure takes advantage of the landscape forming various relationships between the inhabitant & the garden. To the rear the building is nestled into the landscape allowing views across the top of the sedum roof. The desk at ground level forms an intimate working space with the garden. To the front the garden room opens out over the falling landscape. The buildings dark appearance acts as a canvas to the brightly coloured garden landscape.

This private residence of some 400 sq.m area is set in a Conservation Area in the heart of Tunbridge Wells. Paying respect to local architecture, it retains a modern feel. Accommodation is on 3 floors including a semi-basement which opens out onto a sunken courtyard. An upper terrace with infinity balustrades provide a sunny aspect and delightful external space opening off the main living rooms.

Energy efficiency exceeds the requirements of the building regulations by using high thermal insulation and thermal mass. Care has been taken to ensure that it receives the benifit of passive solar gain in winter with shading for hotter summer days using brise soleil and external shutters.

Construction will in Autumn 2015.

Our scheme for the Open Youth Trust has transformed a redundant grand banking hall in the centre of Norwich into a 24-hour centre for young people. Inside a landscape of inner skin, which clings to the original architecture, creates an array of walkways and platforms to accommodate a range of activities: areas for sports, socialising and events, and quiet spaces for study, reflection and escape.

This early Georgian Grade 2 listed townhouse, built in 1720, had been a furrier’s factory for 150 years but although derelict and opened out into a factory space on the ground floor, remained in original condition on the upper floors.

The property was sensitively repaired to retain all original panelling, floor boarding, joinery, plaster and lime wash finishes, and was reroofed. The factory space to the rear yard was removed to create a modern garden, divided from the house by a dramatic sliding glass screen, pool and light well that illuminate the lower floors. The combination of modern design and ancient finishes has created a unique and attractive historic environment.

The Old Hall is a 16th century Grade 2* listed manor house situated within the Ramsden Village Conservation Area. The project replaces a range of poor quality outbuildings and a raised swimming pool with a new sunken pool and large Pool House to accommodate poolside facilities, a self-contained guest suite, extended garaging and an artist’s studio. This was all set within a new walled garden that extended and enhanced the sequence of formal and informal spaces that surround the old manor house.

The new buildings provide many modern facilities but are constructed from traditional materials using traditional building techniques. The layout, orientation and massing has been designed to appear as a working farm with the main Pool House forming a large traditional barn, albeit converted to domestic use.

The project comprised the complete reconfiguration of an existing flat within a newly built residential block on the South Bank next to the Globe Theatre to capitalise on the location and spectacular views of the Thames and St.Paul's Cathedral.

The interiors were carefully laid out to create an elegant sequence of spaces, enormously enhancing the sense of space within the flat while minimising circulation areas. Finishes included curved leather clad walls and columns, Portland stone worktops and benching and high quality marble and glass mosaic finishes with the bathrooms. Bespoke furniture completes the highly crafted and very individual interior, tailored exactly to the aesthetic taste and practical requirements of the owners.

Repair and refurbishment of an unusual 1950’s terraced house, reputed to be one of Richard Seifert’s few domestic projects, with a new contemporary styled mansard roof extension and large roof terrace to form a stylish modern home that maximises the residential potential of the site.

The internal fit-out was carried out in the style of the era with teak flooring, teak veneered panelling, black metal framing and cast wired glass balustrading, reusing elements of the original interior that survived earlier alterations. Concrete window surrounds were reinstated and a new precast concrete porch fitted to the original street elevation to recreate a distinguished 1950’s frontage of a quality that fits well within this historic 18th century street.

The existing buildings on this site were demolished to create a family home that takes full advantage of far-reaching views over the Camel Estuary. The property comprises of a principal residence with guest cottage, hillside garaging, a vaulted wine cellar, a gym and games rooms in the basement.

The new setting includes an oval hillside pool with pool house, a tennis court, kitchen garden and landscaped terraces. Great attention to detail and the search for salvage materials formed a major part of the work for both exterior and interior design.

West Thames College is a successful college of Further Education, serving 7000 students from an ethnically diverse background. The Atrium building was the first phase of the redevelopment of the entire campus and accommodates all the communal facilities used by all staff and students.

The project comprises a large atrium space, directly behind the main reception, which leads onto social, dining and cafe facilities on the ground floor, and a learning resource centre, a 4 court sports hall, fitness suite, and a 250 seat theatre with full back-of-house facilities on the upper floors. The atrium forms the heart of the college, greatly improving communication and the social life of the college and providing an exciting venue for many events, exhibitions, performances, open days and social occasions

Having hosted the European Open Golf Championship for two years the Club identified the need for a 5 star Hotel, due to increasing visitor numbers year on year and the lack of an internationally recognised standard of accommodation in the region.

This 130 key hotel responds to a brief requiring a village style development, drawing design reference from the Kent vernacular whilst accommodating the Client’s preference for a New England Style of architecture within the Estate. The 19,000 sq metre scheme designed by Mackenzie Wheeler Architects received planning consent in 2011, to include significant banqueting facilities and a 2000 sq metre Spa.

We were appointed by Quintain Estates to design a new hotel as part of their wider masterplan, which incorporates a mixture of commercial, leisure, retail and residential accommodation and community facilities around the landmark Wembley stadium.

It was important that this Four Star hotel have its own identity yet respect the context in which it sits. The polished black ceramic cladding reflects the contrasting white facades of the newly refurbished grade II listed Wembley Arena opposite and picks out shimmering reflections of the iconic arch of Wembley stadium. The hotel is not a stand-alone building, but part of a larger complex with shared plant and loading bay. We successfully liaised with the architects for the adjoining development to deliver a unified whole.

The hotel comprises of 361 bedrooms, conference facilities, a 660 seat capacity ballroom and a 280 seat restaurant where guests can enjoy dining with Wembley stadium as their backdrop. There is also a health club, pool and an exclusive rooftop sky bar with dramatic views across London. We delivered this impressive new-build hotel on budget and in time for the 2012 Olympic games.

Our interior design is distinctive yet reassuringly ‘Hilton’, with smart furnishings and a contemporary British feel. Natural light fills the interior by day and by night the spaces sparkle with a glamorous glow.

The Slat House represents an unusual two – storey extension, and sophisticated remodelling of a 1930’s semi-detached house, to provide an extra bedroom, bathroom and study/ garage.

The client specified an extension, which would open up the interiors of the house during the summer, creating a more fluid connection with the densely wooded garden. They also wanted a ‘tough’ and flexible series of internal spaces, which are able to adapt to the changing needs of a growing family.

The driving design concept was to define the extension as a lightweight ‘box’. Timber cladding was specified as a practical necessity to reduce the load of the building, but also for aesthetic purposes to blend the building into its wooded surroundings. The width of the cedar panels (slats) determines a module by which all window and door openings were organised. This rigour lends the building it’s stark, modular appearance.

Photographs by Keith Collie.

Built on a tight mews site, that previously had a planning proposal refused at both committee and appeal, the courtyard house has strictly controlled views and openings to comply with overlooking regulations, and avoid an ‘increased sense of enclosure and overshadowing’.

The house is wrapped in baked pine timber cladding with painted hardwood window frames, the reveals of which are clad in mirror polished black stainless steel.

On the ground there is a study and a split level open plan living/dining area that opens onto the garden, with two bedrooms on the first floor above.

Significantly damaged during the blitz, this mid-19th Century Grade II listed building had been extensively rebuilt and unsympathetically extended post war. Our brief was to provide more headroom in the basement and to make it connect more directly with the wide rear garden. As well as the usual brief of more useable space and light, DMA have looked to give a new cohesion, to the house. We soot washed the rear façade of post-war bricks to emulate the London stocks next door. Spatially, we introduced a double height void above the lower ground floor, suspending within it a new dual aspect study with views over a wildflower sedum roof and the garden beyond. A walnut and glass staircase reorganises the tortuous circulation, providing a direct route between the upper and lower living areas. These interventions ensure natural daylight floods into the heart of the building whilst a new glazed extension opens up the rear façade to connect seamlessly with the sunken patio and garden.

Spring Mews is a mixed use development incorporating a 378 bedroom student accommodation, 93 bed aparthotel, office, retail facilities and new public realm re-vitalising an old industrial site in the Vauxhall Nine Elms Opportunities Area.

The Manser Practice were initially employed by CLS Holdings to design the interiors and then work on the clearance of a set of complex pre-commencement planning conditions to enable works to start. Our success in re-imagining the design led to us being appointed to take over the entire scheme in a combined architecture and interiors role.

We translated our experience in hotel design to create interior bedroom layouts for both the student accommodation and hotel that made cost effective use of space and materials.

Bedrooms on each floor of the student accommodation are arranged in a series of clusters and studios, a matrix which was part of the client’s requirements and integral to the successful letting of the rooms by the operator.

The student accommodation was opened ready for the University intake in September 2014 and the aparthotel was opened in January 2015.

We were approached by our client, a yachtsman, to design a modern house in a natural river inlet with a very scenic shoreline comprised of houses dispersed within mature trees. The site had obvious appeal as a residential location but gaining planning permission was a challenging prospect as it had an existing industrial use and was within an Environment Agency Flood Plain.

In order to obtain permission, The Manser Practice designed the house as part of a mixed-use scheme with enabling development including a new marina and a series of light industrial units, to help generate economic growth for the area. Our skill in demonstrating the economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits of the project to the local authority was sufficient for them to set aside Environment Agency concerns about potential flooding under PPS25 and grant a permission which would not usually be consented in a flood plain.

The house sits on the foundations of a redundant industrial unit and has been raised by 2.5m in some instances to combat the flood risk. In plan it is split into a very transparent living wing, maximising views out to the Solent, and a more solid bedroom wing accessed through a translucent atrium space. It is designed to accommodate arrival by a range of boats, with a small palette of materials used simply and with consistent and coherent detailing.

Our design has transformed a redundant industrial site into a beautiful waterside home, and was a winner at the British Homes Awards in 2014.

Winner, One-Off House, British Home Awards, 2014

An initial brief to extend a 1960s bungalow overlooking the sea changed to a complete rebuild for a five bedroom house with swimming pool, garage and annexe.

The site is at the top of a wood with dramatic views out towards the sea. The intention was for the house to present a mysterious solid black wall on approach and then to reveal the view as progress was made deeper into a fully glazed interior.

Ground source heat pumps, clay honeycomb building blocks and exceptionally high levels of insulation were used to give the building good environmental credentials. High quality, simple materials were used internally giving the house both grace and space.

Winner, Downland Prize (RIBA Southeast) 2008

Shortlisted, RIBA Award 2009

Our client approached us to design a family home on a steeply sloping wooded site on the Isle of Wight overlooking the Solent, having bought the site cheaply as ground conditions were considered too difficult to build on.

Working closely with the structural engineers Malcolm Woodruff and Elliott Wood Partnership, a scheme was designed with a two storey box balanced on a teardrop shaped concrete tube fixed to the hillside by piles and soil anchors.

The project was handled as two contracts: a civils contract for the ground works and a construction contract for the above ground works. Budget and programme were both critical.

We designed the house with the living room on the upper floor to maximise views over the Solent, and utilised high gloss painted cement particle board cladding to reflect the colours of the surrounding trees during the changing seasons.

Winner, RIBA Award 2009

Shortlisted, Grand Designs Award 2009

The clients for this new-build house approached us having purchased a plot of land set in deciduous woodland in Oxfordshire. We were tasked with designing an open and unique house which could make the most of the beautiful surroundings.

A key challenge was to obtain planning permission for a modern building in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The siting of the house has critical in our discussion with the local planning authorities. We have positioned the house so as to take in the best views, while remaining largely hidden from a public path across the valley.

In order to achieve an energy efficient dwelling we developed a sophisticated Mechanical and Electrical system. Heating, hot water and pool heating are supplied by air source heat pumps located in the existing stable block. Major plant is also housed here and pumped via super insulated pipework in ducts under the driveway to the main house. A heat exchange system allows energy to be recovered from the living spaces and the swimming pool.

The house is divided into a living wing and a bedroom wing, with a fully glazed stair hall forming the fulcrum of the composition. The first floor living space and master suite benefit from spectacular views of the surrounding woodland. A cantilevered terrace runs along the length of the south facing façade, extending the living space into a landscape with dramatic effect.

Traditional Cotswold stone walls afford the house a great sense of solidity. This stone exterior creates an interesting juxtaposition with the buildings modern detailing, expanses of glass and slender steel roof.

Commended, Sunday Times British Homes Awards, 2014

Whistler Street successfully overcomes the typical challenge of extending the closet wing of a Victorian Terrace with the introduction of a large glazed rooflight and steel framed garden doors that bring light and space into the kitchen and dining room. The previously cramped and narrow kitchen is opened up and texture and colour is added by the exposure and restoration of the brick garden wall.

The scheme converted the Grade 1 listed “Brewhouse” on the waterfront of King William Yard into a 120 seat restaurant, deli’ and bar with a private room, open fronted kitchen and extensive external dining areas on the waterfront.

The design placed the open kitchen, wood burning oven, preparation areas, bar and deli counter in a sequence of linked counters, like market stalls, at the centre of the room to maximise visibility and the sense of theatre. This central feature divides the large restaurant interior into a sequence of more individual dining areas and conceals the back-of-house accommodation behind, out of customer view. Materials were sympathetic to the 18th century architecture, and used many salvaged from the surrounding dockyard buildings.

We linked the entrance area on the first floor to the kitchen and living room below by constructing a

The accommodation comprises 6 bedrooms, 4 with en-suites and dressing areas. The entertaining, dining and kitchen areas are all open plan and lead out to the beautifully manicured 70 foot landscaped garden., built over basement, ground and first floors. The house sits on the site of a former bungalow and is located in the Cator estate conservation area in Blackheath, Greenwich.

The house is clad in vertical baked pine timber strips and trimmed with anodised silver panels, a 4m long cantilevered canopy signifies the discreet entrance door. Internally a simple palette of materials is used - oak panelling and bespoke oak staircases along with light grey resin and oak flooring.

Externally the high timber fencing is continuously illuminated along its length and the gardens extensively planted with wild grasses and pleached trees.

Mackenzie Wheeler Architects were appointed by S’International to assist with designs for this Grade 2 Listed Building, the development features a central atrium in the former carriage hall courtyard and a new ring of accommodation to upper levels, providing a total of 308 guestrooms and suites; possibly the first London hotel to adopt bathroom pod technology. With careful restoration of existing public rooms the scheme re-instates the original grandeur of this important terminus hotel.

Awards

2006
Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Prize: International Award Winner
Irish Concrete Society Awards 2006: Overall Award Winner
AAI Awards 2006: Special Mention

2005
Opus Architecture & Construction Awards: Award Winner
RIBA Awards 2005 RIBA European Award: Award Winner
RIAI Awards 2005 : Special Award: Award Winner
Best Sustainable Project
RIAI Awards 2005: Award Winner
Lighting Design Awards 2005: Award Winner
Best Exterior Lighting Project
Sustainable Building of the Year 2005: Shortlisted
BCI International Award 2005: Shortlisted

A generous Edwardian House in Hampstead was put back into use as a single family home. Our work included introducing a more fluid and functional layout and transforming the existing adhoc rear extensions into a unified space, with a large picture window and triple sliding doors, which now connects the internal space to the large terraced garden.

We refinished the house: reinstated herringbone timber floors, added basalt stone and matt porcelain tiles and a series of custom joinery elements, in timber and lacquer. These contemporary pieces add a new layer of tactility and warmth to the house, juxtaposing the delight of the generous rooms with the joy of touching a carefully considered detail.

The site lies on the edge of a ribbon development village in rural Bedfordshire and is surrounded by mature trees, hedgerows and arable fields. A sweet chestnut clad box is cantilevered off a solid masonry and glass plinth, from across the fields, it looks like it is floating over the hedgerows. The house incorporates sustainable technologies such as rainwater recycling, photovoltaic array and a ventilation system with heat recovery. The landscaping forms a transition between the domestic and agricultural environments.

<p>The UK Centre for Carnival Arts in Luton is a hitherto unknown building type aiming to become a centre of excellence for carnival arts with an international reach.</p><p>The Arts Council and ERDF funded centre contains spaces for making, learning and performing carnival.</p>

This Grade II Listed terrace house in London was used as a library for decades following the Second World War, and our project was to reinstate it as a family home. We achieved a complex listed building consent involving extensive remedial works to the rear, the replacement of the existing lift shaft, and a new rear terrace.

The project has required careful mending of the fabric of the fragile building, as well as sensitive restoration, alongside contemporary insertions, which are articulated differently. The replacement of a modern roof allowed the children’s space to be spatially adventurous.

The emphasis is on elegance, privacy and clean planning, to allow a fluidity of movement through the large spaces of the house.

The previous single glazed conservatory was replaced with a more robust, single story extension.

This provided a new cooking and dining space which is well insulated and provides accommodation that can be used in the winter. A large area of glazing takes advantage of views into the existing mature and well maintained garden.

The extension, combined with minor internal alterations also gives the ground floor more harmonious circulation and access to the garden. Crisp and simple contemporary details are used throughout, as a counterpoint to the traditional themes found in the main building.

Crisp and simple contemporary details act as a counterpoint to the traditional themes found in the main building.

The design provided for the replacement of a single-glazed conservatory, which had reached the end of its useful lifespan. The extension appears as a new glazed conservatory, allowing a good level of transparency and light penetration to the existing building.

The height of the new extension has deliberately been set below the existing gutter line of the main roof to maintain an appropriate hierarchy.
The new extension is constructed with a colour-coated aluminium frame to ensure future longevity and ease of maintenance, as well as enabling good thermal performance.

This 2-bedroom house designed by one of LSI’s staff for his own family use, is the product of converting a grade 2 listed cowshed.

Changes to the exterior had to blend sensitively with the existing, whilst the full height glazing of the courtyard elevation communicate the idea of an ‘introverted’ building

The low-energy, naturally ventilated office building incorporate a range of Low to Zero Carbon technologies, initially designed to meet outstanding energy targets.

Ground Source Heat Pump and Solar PVs combine to provide renewable heating and power which, along with enhanced air-tightness and thermal performance to the external envelope, ensure efficient and environmentally sound operation of the base. Bio-digester, rainwater harvesting, water saving fittings and a sedum ‘green’ roof ensure water use is also minimised.

The buildings’ form and arrangement on the site are in direct response to the landscape setting, on the southern edge of north Norfolk’s AONB, and the mixture of red brick, timber cladding and flint gabion features form a pallet of materials distinctive to this area of the county.

Internal spaces, such as the key social spaces and open plan offices are arranged to take advantage of the southerly aspect and far-reaching rural views. Colour scheme and feature timber finishes have been selected that reflect the organisation’s Norwegian roots, with specially commissioned artwork providing a more local identity.

This multi-award winning scheme has been designed to embrace the science and art of healing, with an environment that is contemporary but not clinical. The building is highly sustainable and has drawn together many aspects of LSI’s community programme.

We needed to ensure that we were creating a welcoming, homely atmosphere that didn’t feel like a clinical, hospital-style environment. The project, funded entirely through donations, had a limited budget and we were determined to deliver exceptional value for money.

The design incorporates a series of treatment and multi-function rooms, surrounding a central organic social and living space. The central lounge area and adjacent garden room are wrapped by a dramatic curving wall which acknowledges the centres coastal location and the notion of an ark as a place of refuge.

Extensive use of glazing and roof lights allow the inside and outside spaces to flow and connect almost seamlessly. Consulting and counselling rooms and support spaces wrap around a central 'heart' space which in turn links to a private garden.

The project involved the remodelling of an existing three-storey Edwardian school building and the creation of a new sports’ hall.

The objectives were to improve the quality of both internal and external spaces to help inspire and motivate the students to lead a healthy lifestyle, re-engage them in learning, maximise collaborative working and raise standards of achievement.

The formation of a new internal three storey light well and media hall within the existing building enhances internal access, improves visual connectivity and passive supervision and acts as a new heart of the school. It came about as a direct response to the Head Teacher’s view that ‘to lift up one’s head physically’ literally helped students to raise they eyes above their current circumstances.

The overall design intention reflected the highly specialised method of teaching and learning at Harpley PRU. From the new internal lightwell in the remodelled existing building, to the unique cladding on the new sports hall, when combined together, the result is uplifting, dynamic and memorable.

LSI secured this exciting commission following interview and dialogue with a client who was experienced at property development but was looking for an architect to provide designs for a sustainable home with a uniquely modern character.

LSI used a combination of CAD visualisation and card models to develop some design options and it was in conversation with the clients that the final solution of allowing the ruin to remain a ruin was first discussed, an approach supported by NNDC Planners and Heritage and Conservation officers.

Upon approach, the existing chapel is seen in its ruinous state and is the focal point of interest and main entrance to the new house. The four bedroom energy efficient home is discreetly (almost anonymously) arranged behind a tall garden wall. The chimney flue stacks, the only visible components of the new house that appear above the datum of the garden wall, are constructed of canted brickwork, echoing the slope of the chapel gable walls.

Fenestration to the exterior is also carefully considered to place the glazing flush to the external face of the brick, an architectural expression the minimises the visual impact of the windows and reinforces the solid character of the garden wall.

Built of pre-insulated panellised timber components, the 2-storey pavilion floats above the landscape to address future flooding, alongside the low nautical boathouse, also serving as the energy centre.

The form of the house is based upon the concept of an elegant roof form above a rectilinear box forming the living accommodation. The roof form travel down the rear of the house to enclose the circulation ramp. Full height windows on the south elevation take advantage of the river views and passive solar energy. These windows have deep reveals which are coloured to provide subtly changing views of the house from the river.

The site sits within Flood Zone 3 which would typically preclude any new development, but discussions with the Broads Authority, the Environment Agency and LSI’s considered design response to flood resilience successfully negotiated a planning approval.

The sustainable timber frame designs were developed in response to the restricted road access to the site, and pre-insulated timber modules were delivered to site by river barge. Off-site construction also benefitted the air-tightness and thermal performance of the dwelling.

UEA required new accommodation to support the growth in student numbers at the university, maintaining its identity as a campus university and its place in the world’s top 1% of Universities. The project was to be designed and built within a 22 month period on a site with limited space and constructed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating.

Situated adjacent to the recent residence buildings, Crome Court creates a focal point at the end of the campus. The building varies between 5 and 7 storeys in height, and is laid out in a U-shaped configuration which opens towards the south. The orientation of the building makes best use of the limited space available.

As well as providing new residential capacity the building also accomodates accessible bedroom and kitchen-diner facilities for students, studio flats for senior residents and a flexible social space.

The £10.1million project was the first on the UEA’s estate to implement BIM Level 2 with a specific focus on delivering a complete 6D Asset Information Model (AIM) and comprehensive COBie Data Drop 4 for use by the estates management team in CAFM software concept evolution.

With a focus on skills relevant to employment, curriculum learning is delivered via a series of ‘technical challenges’ with the students studying and collaborating in a ‘work place’ type environment.

This education vision is reinforced by the location, with the primary benefit being the ability to provide a large volume, open plan environment akin to industry reducing the step change from an education to workplace environment.

Inserting the complex programme of spaces into a warehouse structure led to a 'box in a box' approach. Cellular accommodation was arranged around a central 'forum' space, minimising the need for enhancement and intervention to the building’s existing fabric.

A new mezzanine floor is suspended from the steel portal frame with additional steelwork expressed at high level reinforcing the industrial aesthetic of the interior.

The challenges of refurbishment and change of use required some thoughtful interventions by the design team, including additional thermal and acoustic enhancement to achieve compliance to Building Bulletins and Statutory regulations.
The UTC allows students to experience industrial scale activity, within an educational context, prior to seeking employment and/or further education within the Engineering and Energy Sectors.

Externally a new 17m high tower denotes the entrance to the UTC and is designed as a 'Vertical laboratory'.

The Winchester canteen has been created within the 18th century Grade 2 listed Abbey Mill, bordering Abbey Park, Winchester.

The mill buildings comprise a collection brick built structures and, rather oddly, was faced with a fine classical portico in 1800 so that the building might present a more attractive façade to the new public park formed in the centre of the city at that time.

The brief required the delivery of at least 130 dining covers, including a private dining area for 20, a deli’ area for retail sales and a bar, both to support the restaurant and to trade in its own right. A further 50 covers were required outside to capitalise on the unique parkland setting of the venue.

The restaurant also offers a base for River Cottage’s environmental campaigns; offers cookery courses and provides a venue for meetings, presentations and events.

The extension comprises classrooms, performance space, staff facilities, reception and improved access, while retaining external play space. The building re-establishes the school as a beacon for the local community it serves. It has, as a public spirited catalyst, also influenced the upgrading of surrounding public space.

The new building is pulled away from the flank wall to sit closely parallel with the neighbouring (Listed grade II*) Odd Fellows Hall. The resultant in-between space establishes a dramatic new entrance; and a triple height transparent atrium that bridges old and new. Stairs, lift and voids cleverly reconcile four contemporary storeys within the height of three Victorian floors. The classrooms are wrapped in a pixellated loop of glass. The colour spectrum and glazing ‘brick bond’ pattern boldly plays with the scale and materiality of the context. The facade works hard: solid, fritted and clear glass provide environmental control, internal felt pinboards display children’s work, changing views of the city are framed at heights to suit all ages.

The ambition was to create a building that would sit shoulder to shoulder with two great brick examples without being subservient; a powerful modern expression of the ongoing dedication of the stakeholders of the school.

Great James Street comprises two five storey terraced townhouses built between 1720 and 1724 in Bloomsbury. The client has used the buildings as their head offices for many generations. The properties suffered bomb and fire damage during the Second World War and were patched-up shortly after with a series of rear extensions. This annex contained poor office accommodation and some areas were in such bad condition that they were only suitable for storage.

Emrys’ solution was to retain and enhance the grandeur of the Grade II* listed terrace and to introduce an entirely new structure in the tight landlocked space to the rear, creating a dramatic transition from old to the new.

An asymmetric lofted ceiling sits under a new roof with recessed lighting accentuating the geometric planes. A double height void has been cut out at the rear and a cantilevered timber staircase rises through to connect the two floors. Use of roof lights and glazed access to courtyard areas has ensured that the building is flooded with light. It was agreed with the local authority to retain some elements of the existing outbuildings, the most notable feature being the existing silver vault, a brick barrel-arched structure that included a heavy steel door. Whilst this was not ideally located, it was used as the starting point for the space plan of the lower floors and became an unconventional meeting room.

Faced with the restriction of the landlocked site, Emrys took the existing heights of key points around the perimeter to the rear of the listed building and used this for inspiration for an unusual triangulated roof form. The contemporary folded roof is complemented by the use of a copper bronze alloy in a flush rain screen arrangement, the patina selected to harmonise with the existing townhouse.

The structure is made up of a series of folded triangular plates that are self-supporting when all panels are in place. These are retained by a continuous light-weight steel ring beam that ties all the panels together and prevents them from sliding away.

The project was phased to allow the client to maintain operations throughout the construction work.

The Grade I listed Almhouses at Trinity Green are part of the Stepney Green Conservation Area on Mile End Road. They were built between 1693 and 1697 for the “Corporation of Elder Brethren of Trinity House” to house retired and incapacitated Mariners. 5 Trinity Green is a small two storey dwelling arranged around an open court.

The proposal was to reinstate some of the original interior and fittings of the ground floor, to remove the suspended ceiling, and to fit new cornice and new skirting board on the ground floor, as well as timber panelling around all the walls. The kitchen was moved to the ground floor to establish a reception/living space. The new kitchen unit was built as furniture that can be removed from the room without disturbing the panelling. The bathroom and bedroom remain on basement level whilst the attic space is used as a living room.

The Drama Department at RHUL is housed in Sutherland House, which is a Grade II listed Regency house set in a wooded garden, close to the A30. The project consists of a new building, linked to Sutherland House, together with improvements within the existing building. The new building provides a studio theatre, workshops, dressing rooms, rehearsal studios and a passenger lift, providing wheelchair access to all areas. A new glazed foyer links the new building to Sutherland House, allowing the large extension to be expressed as a separate satellite to the existing listed house.

The studio theatre is a galleried performance space, with a seating capacity of 178 seats, suitable for both teaching and performance. The flat floor can be reconfigured with retractable and moveable seating on three sides of the acting area or can be withdrawn to provide a large floor area for teaching and workshops. The first gallery level provides audience seating, surrounding the acting area, and the upper gallery is a technical level, incorporating stage lighting positions and a technical control room. At the rear of the site there are two storeys of accommodation, linked to the theatre, with a large workshop and dressing rooms on the ground floor and two large rehearsal studios on the first floor.

The new logistics centre, located on the E45 motorway at Haderslev, supplies all of the clothing company Bestseller’s boutiques, right across Europe.
The centre has been planned to occupy three parallel bands surrounding a main avenue. One of these bands contains the main entrance, office and staff facilities, together with an area with loading ramps for trucks, while the second contains an automated sorting facility, and the third fully-automated mini-load stores. The planned layout provides the most flexible arrangement, and allows for a possible future expansion of the logistics centre to triple size, i.e. 150.000 m².
The idea was to create an industrial building that would go beyond the typical standardised solutions for logistic facilities, and create a building with a strong identity that would add an experiential quality to its surroundings. The tall mini-load stores therefore take the form of solid, sculptural structures, clad with wooden slats and equipped with transparent sides which allow motorists on the motorway to see the cranes at work.
Throughout the building, emphasis has been placed on allowing daylight to enter, and on creating an intimacy with the landscape and the views, including the local farmland. There has been a strong focus on sustainability in the planning, e.g. the use of recycled materials in the construction process, large-scale green roofs, and the use of renewable energy such as solar and biodiesel for heating. The site surrounding the centre, covering approximately 500,000 m² in all, has been designed to form a natural area with oak woods, wetlands and meadows with grazing cows, which will create a fertile environment for a rich flora and fauna.

In order to counteract the dense urban character of London’s Spitalfields, this flat interior abstractly recreates a piece of the New England forest familiar from the client’s home. An automatically irrigated living wall grows a range of ferns from the forest floor and brings a moist cooling presence to the kitchen area. Lighting behind laser-cut screens projects a pattern of the tree canopy across the ceiling throughout the living space. Bespoke furniture is made in raw steel and charred oak allowing the materials to express the processes of formation from which they originated.

The appearance and design of the building is a balance between an agricultural aesthetic and the contemporary needs of a modern dwelling. Working to retain the majority of the existing fabric, any new works are seen as complimentary to the heritage or distinctly modern to express the difference between new and old.

Both existing structures have minor alterations, retaining and repairing brickwork, flint work and roof tiling. The appearance of the main barn from Rectory Road will be relatively unchanged, with the piggery outer flint walls also retained to support a new floating standing seam pitched roof.

This dramatic stainless steel stair was completed for a private client in South London. The stair sits within a double-height hallway which is the centrepiece of a domestic refurbishment to an existing Victorian property that amalgamates two flats into a single duplex unit. The stair is created from a complex geometry of folded triangular facets which appear to float effortlessly within the space. The stair has been conceived as a sculptural origami object folding up through the space. It is made of 6mm thick brushed stainless steel, pre-welded into three sections prior to being erected on site.

The brief was to convert this part of a late Georgian warehouse into a three-bedroom apartment with separate office.

Our strategy has been to restore the historic fabric and to retain period features, whilst upgrading the envelope to meet today’s regulations.

This warehouse has fantastic open spaces that define its character. We developed a free-standing sculptural object made of oak that sits within the floor plate and generates the spaces. This box contains the subservient spaces such as bathrooms and storage.

Abode at Great Kneighton is the initial phase of a major development adjacent to the new Addenbrookes Medipark on Cambridge city’s southern fringe which will provide around 2, 270 homes, extensive open space as well as education, sports and community facilities.

Abode consists of over 300 mixed-tenure homes (40% CFSH Level 4 Affordable Housing), focussed around a central ‘arrival’ square - a ‘Great Court,’ which absorbs the existing highways infrastructure and provides a gateway to the scheme.

Beyond lies a series of three storey saw-tooth terraced mews, whose materials (predominantly brick) borrow from the ‘Great Court’ aesthetic while their more modest scale begins the transition from the arrival zone to the rural edge. Each has garden space to the rear with a raised first floor terrace. A series of ‘landscape ribbons’ run through the terraces, providing pleasant shared spaces and linear routes from the ‘Great Court’ to the open countryside.

A further transition takes place to the north where the ‘Green Lanes’ adopt a more ‘village-like’ scale; a mix of two to five bedroom homes sit in loose clusters, each with private gardens and generous shared spaces. Here the aim is to achieve relaxed “urban erosion” at the boundary of the development.

A simple and controlled palette of materials is used throughout the development. All buildings share a base palette of “Cambridge” stock brickwork, highlighted in places with panels of textured brick. Other materials emphasise the sequence of building types: The ‘Great Court,’ is capped with a ‘frieze’ of stylised pollarded willows depicted within perforated metal cladding, while the ‘Green Lanes’ houses are timber clad referencing local vernacular farm buildings.

This private residence in St George’s Hill, Weybridge was completed in December 2010 and comprises a 12,000sq.ft. five bedroom house with indoor swimming pool, games room, steam room, sauna, office facilities, library and a number of large reception areas. Staff facilities are placed above the garage wing of the house. There is also a Banya (a Russian hot and cold spa) within the extensive landscaped grounds.

The practice was also commissioned to undertake the interior design of the property.

Since its completion the house has received two awards in the ‘Best Luxury House’ category; a Gold Award in the What House Awards 2011 and Highly Commended in the London Evening Standard New Luxury Homes Awards 2011. The awards relate to both the building itself and the interior design.

This new-build 18-unit residential development is formed of two buildings which face onto a communal garden to the west and onto a canal at the east. The blocks fan out from a pivot point at the north end of the site to create a private south-facing courtyard with views of the mature trees and canal beyond. The elevations are animated by timber fins which project from the façade to support the balconies and walkways. The formal language and materiality of the scheme consciously reflects and compliments the dense canopy of trees that envelop the site.

The Brassworks, located in a quiet mews close to Marble Arch, is a remodelling for the Church Commissioners of a former Victorian factory into a series of loft style apartments. It was originally built in 1819 as a brass instrument factory for Distin’s Military Musical Instrument Manufacturers.

The focal point in this project was the creation of the internal courtyard with a bronze water sculpture at 1st floor level into which look all the public rooms of the flats.. It is a peaceful haven and brings daylight and a sense of space into the heart of every apartment. The apartments at the courtyard level enjoy privacy thanks to a series of screen-printed sliding glass panels. Externally, the original façade has been restored, allowing the building to sit proudly once again within its conservation area setting. On the ground floor the arches, previously partially blocked, have now been opened up with steel gates which reference the building’s musical history with a brass tubing motif. Tucked away on this level lies a particularly playful flat with irregular walls, an internal glazed courtyard and a sunken media room.

From the first floor upwards, the U-shaped layout of the building has been exploited to form two flats at each level. All the flats have their own exclusive external space , with the two penthouse flats enjoying large roof gardens accessed through two new pods.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital required three 32-bed acute wards to be ready for their 2010 winter bed pressures to supplement the existing beds that were already at full capacity. Key required outcomes for the project were improved quality of patient care; improved working conditions for staff; and delivery of the project on time and on budget.

The plan breaks away from the traditional linear ward, providing 2 efficient clusters of patient rooms, each around a nurse base, resulting in a T-shaped plan where the support rooms are included. This rationalised plan reduces staff travel times, increases natural light levels and allows the maximum observation of patients by staff through double glazed internal windows. This layout has released more time for staff to care for patients and also added to patient wellbeing as they can see staff in their beds whilst being surrounded by artwork integrated into the fabric of the building.

The requirement for the facility to be operational before winter 2010 was reflected in the speed of the design and delivery process, with the design team appointed in November 2008 and the project completed as planned in August 2010. Through a series of interactive staff workshops and sensible value engineering, the client’s original business case budget of £10.3 million (£2,600 per m2) was reduced to £7.5 million (£1893 per m2), allowing £2.8 million to be spent upgrading other areas of the hospital.

The proposal was to rationalise the existing ground floor layout of this late nineteenth century, semi-detached house to create a space which suits 21st century living. The existing kitchen was retained in-situ with the removal of the adjacent utility room to create a large, open kitchen / dining and living area. The small extension to the rear and side integrates floor to ceiling “frameless” glazing to create a new room in direct contact with the garden. These glazed doors face south west and allow good afternoon and evening light into the space.

Externally the extension was constructed in St. Ives Brick. The walls are built with a low parapet to create a solid box like structure which is contracted with the slim sight lines of the glazing in a dark colour set back from the face of the brickwork. A walk on glazed floor panel and introduction of a light well utilising an old coal chute allows light to enter the previously unoccupied basement level to create a family entertainment room and study.

The existing flat roof was strengthened to accommodate the new structure and an opening formed for the new spiral staircase. Negotiations took place to secure ownership of the roof space and for planning permission to extend over the existing flat roof.

The extension accommodates a new bedroom, shower room and sitting room with terrace that has views over London. It was important to provide areas to escape to away from the large open plan kitchen, dining and living space below. The spiral staircase is the central pivotal element and marks the entrance to the flat which incorporated a previously space consuming lobby. The staircase separates the kitchen / dining area from the living space whilst allowing views across. Two further bedrooms and a bathroom were created on the main living floor for the children.

Working within the circulation patterns of the David Kier Building, the new Student Hub and the revitalised lecture theatre combine to create an “open all hours” collaborative learning environment that extends the use of facilities beyond the standard academic day, providing a new, local, focus for student life. The interconnected levels and seating corrals combine to create a series of spaces that subtly move from public to private.

A Notting Hill house over three floors has been opened to the garden with the addition of a steel balcony and a new opening to the rear façade. Internally the house has been opened up and refurbished with new joinery, stone slab bathrooms and timber floors. The palette of materials is deliberately restrained, and was developed in collaboration with our architect client. The luxury of the house is in apparently simple details, made from natural materials, which have been beautifully made by an excellent team of craftspeople.

This design explores how the activities of everyday life can be made poetic and joyful through responsive and adaptable architecture.

The initial concept of a jewellery box has been expanded in the careful design of the details so that the space can breathe and alter through the pushing and pulling, sliding and shifting, opening and closing of individual elements. Rather than the occupier moving from one room to another in order to carry out different tasks the space adjusts to accommodate his or her changing needs.

Before the alteration, the flat was a series of compartmentalised rooms divided by doors. We opened up areas of the walls; increasing the perception of spaciousness and filling the flat with light. Circulation also became fluid, as the new openings allow different entry and exit points into and out of the spaces.

The emphasis is on the colour, texture and grain of the hardwood and veneer timber joinery, with neutral surfaces as a counterpoint to this richness. The white wall cupboards have recessed concealed handles. The floor is laid with large light grey rubber tiles and the windows are screened with light diffusing white roller blinds.

A large lateral conversion in Bayswater was spatially reconfigured to provide a large open plan living space and flexible accommodation. Only two colours predominate: pure white and the very dark brown of the fumed oak floor and kitchen.

The new planning allows spaces to open to the light and views, and allows direct access from the large front to back living space onto a rear roof terrace, which is wrapped in iroko cladding and planted with green creeper that flowers in the spring and summer.

A series of white matt lacquer scalloped door panels slide into and out of walls to open and close different spaces, depending on the requirements of the inhabitants.

The desert house on the edge of the Great Karoo in South Africa meets the mountain and sky with an uneven profile that suggests its inherent flexibility. Internal spaces are differentiated by views and volume and allow heat to dissipate and wind to cool the house.

The day/night, light/dark character of the house is emphasized by the large glazed doors, which slide into rough-cast plaster walls, and small scattered openings, which allow shafts of light to penetrate into shadows, and follow the positions of stars in constellations visible from the upper roof terraces.

The house is designed to work according to passive solar principles. In the light and heat of summer the house can be shuttered, while in winter the large openings act as suncatchers.

West Thames College is a successful college of Further Education, serving 7000 students from an ethnically diverse background. The Sir Joseph Banks building, named after the famous 18th C botanist who built the original college buildings as his home, is the 2nd phase of the redevelopment of the entire campus and accommodates most of the teaching spaces comprising about 100 classrooms, design studios, laboratories and workshops.

The accommodation is arranged either side of a wide central circulation space, incorporating generous light wells that ensure most rooms have cross ventilation and natural light on both sides, and stepping down the gently sloping site to enhance the historic parkland site and ease level access.

Our striking new black building on London’s St John Street shows little of its origins as a tired 70s office building. Our original brief was to breathe new life into this building and to raise its profile in the neighbourhood with a new face and a new roof storey.

BAA was then commissioned to design the flagship store of Dutch tile manufacturer Mosa as part of the redevelopment of a larger building at 60 St John Street. The street is a home for design companies and a number of Mosa’s competitors are located nearby – which encouraged a bold architectural approach.

The showroom is all about the tiles with nothing to distract your attention from the products. Simple, sophisticated design and a neutral colour palette serves as a clean backdrop to the natural colours of the Mosa oeuvre. From the street a fully glazed ground floor creates an enticing entrance.

The interior space is the result of a happy collaboration between Ben Adams Architects and the Mosa design team.

The aim of this project included the rearrangement of the accommodation to
make the most of the open aspect to the south to bring more light into the house.
It also included the provision of additional space on a new basement level.
With the northward orientation of the front facade, the proposal sought to create
a new south facing conservatory space allowing a greater sense of openness and
light to reach deep into the plan of the house at ground and first floor levels.
Above, at first floor level, additional usable space was created through the addition
of a principal drawing room, which overlooks the conservatory space.

Hall & Woodhouse is a dramatically contemporary pub and restaurant on the quayside of Portishead Marina, designed to be highly sustainable and built in 2 phases, with 3 storeys of hotel rooms to be added above the pub and restaurant at a later date once these operations are properly established.

The pub and restaurant comprise a 2 storey, fully glazed concrete framed structure, flanked with 28 recycled shipping containers that accommodate the private dining and meeting rooms, toilets, staff accommodation and Marina facilities. The containers also suit the cellular nature of the future hotel rooms above, are highly appropriate to the marine location and form a strong visual link with the Dock’s industrial past. Awarded “Pub Design of the Year 2013” in the annual CAMRA and English Heritage awards in the “new build” category; the 1st year since 2006 that they have found a newly built pub worthy of the award.

The original 19th Century University College boathouse succumbed to arson in 1999. It took the College almost eight years, partly owing to difficulties related to the finding of solutions acceptable to the planners, before they organized an invited design competition to replace the former Grade II listed structure.

Creatively, the design concept for the new Boathouse draws upon two main principles, which are directly inspired by the sport of rowing. Firstly, the boats, the oars, the water, all exhibit unique characteristics which are manifested in the copper roof. The goal was to achieve a sort of blade cutting the sky. The roof, like the shell of an inverted boat, stretches over the entire building to provide shelter over the rowers and spectators. Strategic penetrations through it allow streams of light to filter into core areas. Keeping the roof as thin as possible and cantilevering it out from the building gives uninhibited views to all sides and directs focus to the building’s surroundings.

Secondly, the ground level of the building had to carry a lot of mass for storage and security reasons, not least to prevent the occurrence of another arson attempt. In working with such mass, it seemed important to open the building up at key points to ensure that it could also provide a welcome to the public. The insertion of a void through the solid base, extending vertically right through the building, creates a space into which the landscape is allowed to enter, while exposing the activities inside to the surroundings. This atrium is an active place through which all circulation passes, and whose generosity opens up views throughout the building.

The glazed clubroom is an important extension of this space. Breaking free from the louvered first floor, it propels itself out from the main mass of the building towards the water. Flanked on two sides by the expansive terraces atop the brick lower mass, it is a privileged vantage point, giving the occupants a lively view of the river and all that is happening on and beside it. The boathouse is a sporting facility that lifts its mass just above the ground - it is the shell of a boat, allowing water to pass beneath it while providing both shelter as well as interactive space for participation in the river’s events.

The design had to meet the practical constraints imposed by the various authorities involved and a year-long discussion took place with the local planning authority and the Environment Agency. In particular the entire site is on a flood plain, as well as providing a home for protected wetland species

Bradfield College is an independent school situated in the Berkshire countryside. At the heart of the school, is a 1000 seat amphitheatre formed from a disused chalk quarry. Since Antigone in 1890, every third year the school stages a full Greek play that is world-renowned.

Studio Octopi were appointed to undertake the modernisation of the theatre. The works included an Agora (entrance piazza and balcony), a Grand Staircase, black concrete Walkway and timber Skene (theatre box).

Within the auditorium, seating is maintained as open democratic terraces common to Greek theatres. The Skene is clad in cedar shingles. The backdrop to the stage is composed of cedar slatted screens that slide open to reveal a loggia. Central to the auditorium is the Orchestra which is now reinstated as a complete circle.

In June 2014 the school presented the first Greek play in seven years, Antigone.

The re-modeling of an existing house allows Etoile du Nord to nestle into the hillside overlooking Vazon bay. Its stepped form and layered use of materials are designed to merge into the surrounding landscape and throughout the building careful detailing blurs the boundary between inside and out. Every opportunity has being taken to capture the spectacular views, the kitchen /dining area overlooks a double height living space and a specially engineered glass facade allows for equally impressive viewsfrom both. The buildings north-east orientation and the clients brief for a light contemporary building resulted in the integration of large bespoke rooflights which channel light to the core of the living space.

A large expanse of structurally glazed doors connect the living spaces to a large courtyard and infinity pool; capturing the evening sun from the west. The courtyard also connects to a detached study block which forms a screen and gate-house to the wind swept site. Five bedrooms and ensuites are located on the first floor. The design and orientation of the building maximises views of the stunning landscape from all principle rooms. The palette of top lit spaces, concrete floors, recycled local granite, hand crafted zinc, slate, glass and a green roof, enables the property to blend within its setting, be low maintenance and mediate between water, earth and sky. The site is highly sensitive, adjacent to a National Trust field and although much criticised at the time, the finished building has won plaudits from many of its initial critics.

The centre includes a new accessible entrance, a community cafe, a sacred space, church and three community spaces as well as ancillary accommodation. At the centre of the building is the conical sacred space rising up through the roof. The new ground floor extensions were constructed from sustainable laminated timber
A new garden has been created from the existing car park at the rear as a place of tranquility and calm. Extensive community consultation took place prior to submitting the planning application and a focused approach to sustainability was undertaken from the outset that included sustainable laminated timber construction.
Lumen was awarded an RIBA London Regional Award in 2009.

A strong palette of contrasting materials was used to create a clean and contemporary look in the living spaces at lower ground and ground floor levels, adding a touch more warmth and luxury to the master suite and a pop of colour to the children's rooms on the top floor.

The refurbishment and re-organisation of an apartment in Wapping. The project involved the demolition of internal walls to open the first floor of the apartment into an open plan multi-use living area. The staircase was redesigned as a bespoke joinery element making a 3-D panelled room that links the two levels of the apartment.

More-or-less public, more-or-less private, the Georgian townhouse is London’s most hard working architectural typology. We are pushing it to its limits, adapting the typology to provide a mixed-use socially sustainable development that provides commercial spaces, residential accommodation and a three-storey family home. The project includes a full-scale renovation, reorganisation and reinterpretation of the existing building; a three-storey cantilevered rear extension; and a light-weight roof-top pavilion and garden. We are enjoying the opportunity to use architecture to support a mixed-use urban environment and to experiment with central London’s essential urban tissue.

Photographs by Richard Leeney

UPB have adapted an existing attic space in Kensington into a new residential unit, creating a multi-level living environment for a young family. The design includes two sculpted voids and a sequence of internal and external views that organise and animate the space.

Photographs by Kilian O'Sullivan (www.kilianosulivan.com)

Awards

2010
AIA Excellence in Architecture: Award Winner
Civic Trust Award for Outstanding Contribution: Award Winner

2009
RIAI Cultural Building of the Year: Award Winner
RIBA Awards 2009: Award Winner
Irish Times Special Jury Award: Award Winner
Stirling Prize Nomination (Penultimate Round)

2008
OPUS Awards: Award Winner

The ‘Gorilla Kingdom’ project is viewed by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) as the most significant re-structuring of London Zoo for forty years. The scheme focuses on the wider zoo strategy of providing enlarged and enhanced animal enclosures and removing (where possible) bars, cages and the visually obtrusive barriers separating animals from visitors. The design evolved through a two year collaborative dialogue with the project team of in-house project advisors, animal experts, keepers and external consultants to create an immersive landscape and visitor attraction which will highlight the plight of western lowland gorillas and other native species of the African rainforests of the Congo, Rwanda and Gabon.

The design offers a series of viewpoints from which the visitor observes and is observed by the gorillas. These views unfold, around a promenade route following a moat that bounds the gorillas new paddock and culminating in the boardwalk structures. The form and detail design of this viewing enclosure evokes the culture and materials of the Gorilla’s natural habitat without the need for Disneyesque pastiche. The boardwalk itself is made from rich, red Ekki hardwood (recycled from railway sleepers) and the ceiling and walls are clad in Douglas Fir ply panels patterned with cut-out sections and stripes of paint inspired by the rhythmic Kuba fabric patterns traditionally made in the Congo and Rwandan regions - often making symbolic reference to ‘the ancestors’. The visitor boardwalk is separated from the gorillas by a glass wall given lateral support by the canopy columns. The columns are made from bamboo, again a material reference to the gorillas’ natural habitat and we believe the first use of structural bamboo in the United Kingdom.

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 self-contained 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.

This project is a template for high density, affordable, low energy housing on inner city sites and was won in an open design competition. In response to the constrained site we created six dwellings with large terraces to provide good amenity, sunlight and views. Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5 is achieved via a highly insulated and airtight building fabric, photovoltaic cells on the roof, MVHR and grey water recycling. The blue engineering brick is reminiscent of Dockland’s Victorian industrial structures, and the gold copper cladding makes reference to the signage of the pub that previously stood on the site.

The house is for a private client and his young family primarily for holiday use, has six bedrooms and is set into the hillside overlooking the bay of Cannes, spread over two floors with most of the bedrooms on the lower ground floor.

A large raised terrace at entry level provides an shaded arcade to the bedrooms and garden below whilst offering long views over the bay. A large swimming pool is surrounded by timber decking providing a cool place to chill through the long hot summer months. Each bedroom is served by its own bathroom; the kitchen is now configured to open out into the dining / living area, a former attic room forms a study bedroom with crow’s nest and roof terrace overlooking the bay.

The entire project was designed and implemented in 9 months. Low smooth rendered walls enclose Mediterranean plants and a consistent palate of Mediterranean white pervades all the interior and exterior of the house.

One of a group of beautiful neo-Georgian houses built circa 1915 and designed by the well-known Chelsea firm of Ashbee & Horner. The existing interiors were of little note and had been compartmentalised over the years. The brief demanded a lot in terms of time and scale; the house was to be fully renovated and refitted to the highest standards and finishes in a sympathetic character, whilst being discreetly modern in style. The original staircase of the house served only the three principal floors at that time.

The brief was to add a new top floor and basement level to the main body of accommodation. This involved a complete strip out and refitting of the interior. The new basement was fitted out with cinema, gymnasium, steam room, WC and shower. The rest of the house was reconfigured radically with the help of the engineers, with a new hall forming the heart of the square plan, over which an impressive, domed fibrous plaster ceiling now hangs and an elegant new staircase was inserted from the basement to the top of the house. The reception rooms wind around this new hall space in an effortless manner.

The courtyard garden at the rear provides a focus for all the ground floor rooms, its 'Zen-like' qualities providing a sense of calm and peace. The water features, designed in collaboration with Artist Andrew Ewing, provide focal points for the conservatory and dining rooms and a pleasant acoustic to counter the noise of the surrounding urban environment.

dRMM were selected through competition to develop designs for this key residential building, which will define the standard for new homes as part of the 67 acre King’s Cross Central Regeneration. ‘ArtHouse’ sits between the Granary, home to the University of the Arts London, and Kings Place, home to two concert halls, galleries and a national newspaper. The building will offer contemporary city living with Handyside Park, Granary Square, the Regent’s Canal and Europe’s best transport hub all on its doorstep.

The building is formed of four residential clusters, creating localized communities and the ability to maximise dual aspect apartments. Expressed as four inter connecting towers the building forms a saw-toothed profile to Handyside Park, maximizing views and visual connectivity through a composition of opposing balconies and full height glass. These towers are drawn through onto to York Way and expressed as a dynamic composition of alternating and stacked balconies. A castellated roofline is formed of towers and private roof terraces.

143 apartments are to be provided, 29 of which are affordable housing. The open market apartments are designed by interior specialists Johnson Naylor. The residential accommodation stands on a fully glazed chamfered plinth comprising commercial space and entrance lobbies, with a basement carpark.

The building’s façade comprises glazed terracotta tiles with the face of the towers finished in polished stainless steel, reflecting the contextual colours of the site. Responding to residents’ needs for shade and privacy, sliding louvred screens animate the face of the building and allow residents the ability to control their environment with shading.

The new build scheme provides a 350 seat theatre, a theatre studio, education, teaching and rehearsal spaces, public café, and is the most far reaching child focussed educative and theatrical cultural institution in the UK.

Awards

2008
Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Prize International: Award Winner

2007
Copper in Architecture Awards 13 UK: Award Winner
USITT Award: Award Winner

2006
Stirling Prize Nomination (Penultimate Round) Shortlisted
RIBA Awards 2006: Award Winner
RIAI Awards 2006 RIAI Overseas Award: Award Winner

Curator Alex Newson envisioned an exhibition that would showcase a substantial change in manufacturing through new technologies such as digital looms, online marketing places, 3D-printing and CNC routing (computer-controlled cutting machines); a change that could affect commerce, industry and the environment as profoundly as previous Industrial Revolutions. The underlying ambition was to encourage people to explore their changing relationship with the designed world, where the roles of designer, manufacturer and consumer are not so strictly defined.

We wanted visitors to take their own routes and feel free to go back to exhibits, so organized the space without dividing walls and used a variety of plinths on which the exhibits were placed. In this way, rather than the convention of the space guiding the route, people could make their own connections, contributing to the articulation of space as they made their way around the various plinths. Moreover, the plinths were constructed out of digitally-cut segments of recyclable, triple-layered, corrugated cardboard, offering a clear example of the modern process of CNC routing while using a material that is lightweight, robust, locally manufactured and indicative of an environmental and sustainable revolution. 'Pink' seemed the most unlikely of colours to use and therefore the most interesting, contrasting strongly with the bold appearance of the equipment on display. The colour offered warmth and an understated background, further encouraging visitors to enjoy a self-determined experience of the exhibition.

With graphic design provided by LucienneRoberts+ and an illustrated timeline commissioned from Mark Hudson, the exhibition proved a great success, introducing visitors to the potential of contemporary manufacturing in a unique and intelligent way.

<p>In December 2005 Alison Brooks Architects won the two stage national competition for the design of the Folkestone Arts and Business Centre (‘Quarterhouse’). The 1550sm building is a key element of the arts-led regeneration of Folkestone spearheaded by client The Creative Foundation, a charitable trust.The Quarterhouse includes a 220 seat, 500 standing multipurpose auditorium for music, dance, theatre, film performances and conferences; ground floor foyer and exhibition space; first floor cafe/bar and a top floor business enterprise centre.</p><p>The design was developed through 2006, started on site in early summer 2007 and completed in February 2009. Funding for the project has come from a £3.5M grant from Kent County Council with a further £500,000 from the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). The Quarterhouse was conceived as both a ‘beacon’ announcing a new cultural hub for Folkestone, and as a modest ‘bookend’ building completing the curved east facade of late Georgian buildings that form Tontine Street.</p><p>The building’s most prominent feature, the fluted mesh cladding illuminated from behind at night, took its inspiration from both the maritime iconography of Folkestone – scallop shell window pediments and seaside town paraphernalia – as well as the fragile and translucent texture of the scallop shells that arrive in Folkestone’s harbour every day.</p>

Located on historic Cheyne Walk, this Grade 2 listed house built in 1752 required a full restoration, working with Colefax and Fowler we interpreted the clients brief for a luxurious interior which respected the existing architecture through careful choice of materials, lighting and manipulation of the listed spaces.

We feel privileged to have been commissioned with this project, to create a £10 million state-of-the-art Auditorium for an audience of 730, offering world-class facilities unrivalled in the state education system and possibly in the private sector as well.

The replacement of the existing large School Hall with the new Auditorium, serves this Academy School in further developing its students’ musical, artistic and drama skills. The Auditorium also serves the community with commercial performances by non-school linked organisations.

The Auditorium is designed to be transformed for use as a theatre or for music performances. In the theatre mode it can be arranged in the form of a traditional proscenium theatre or as a theatre in the round; in the music mode for orchestral and choral performances with the floor opened to create a large orchestra pit.

The acoustics are designed to accommodate a wide range of requirements suitable for recording purposes made by the School or by outside organisations and have been highly praised by visiting performers.

The Auditorium is also designed to act as a traditional School Hall; for large assemblies, presentations and conferences. The building includes an entrance foyer and bar mingling areas along with additional educational and administrative facilities.

Saffron Hall was officially opened by Penelope Keith DBE on 30 November 2013 and since then has welcomed a number of world-class orchestras and performers who have been attracted by the quality of the building and its acoustic excellence.

AWARDS:

Regional Winner, Civic Trust Awards 2015.
Highly Commended, RICS National Awards 2014, ‘Design through Innovation’.
Finalist, RICS National Awards 2014, ‘Project of the Year’.
Winner, RICS East of England Awards 2014, ‘Design through Innovation’ and ‘Project of the Year’.
Finalist, RICS East of England Awards 2014, 'Tourism & Leisure' and 'Community Benefit'.
International Green Apple Awards for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage 2014.

Designed by Mewes and Davis and completed in 1911, The Royal Automobile Club is one of the premier gentleman’s clubs of London, attracting grade 2* listing for architectural quality and interior grandeur.

With a finite footprint and aspirations to allow female membership, the project included a restoration programme for the Turkish Baths and Pool Hall, new sports facilities, an art gallery area and new back of house accommodation. The work was implemented in phases, attracting much debate from the national press and from influential members, either opposed to or in favour of change.

House No.7 sits on the beautiful Island of Tiree, the western-most of the inner Hebrides, with views out across the machair, the sea and the islands beyond. Conceived as a Living House, for the clients to use throughout the year, a Guest House; containing three bedrooms and associated accommodation; and the Utility; containing much needed welly storage and space for the necessary effects required for island life.

The architecture is characterised by a mix of both a traditional black house and agricultural steadings all integrated into the landscape.

The house has won an RIAS award, an RIBA National Award, Grand Designs Home of the Year 2014, a Scottish Design Award and a Saltire Housing Award 2014. The house has also been published widely.

The house is a typical example of a defined typology, so we wanted to keep this intervention reversible.

Space was limited and all materials had to be brought in through the front door. Timber offered a compact construction. Carpenters could perform most of the building work, limiting the number of trades.

The fenestration was to be in ‘keeping’ with the neighbourhood. Our response was to propose a building without windows. Sanded Perspex boards blend seamlessly into the ship lapped surface and give the impression of a homogenously clad timber box. During the daytime the Perspex appears to be grey and we played with this, choosing to paint each board in a different shade of grey. The colours were carefully chosen to create a dialogue between new and old.

Consistent with the camouflage idea the openings were to be distributed randomly.

Internally this extension offers two bathrooms and a toilet/utility room. These rooms are not permanently habitable and don’t require conventional windows. The rooms have discreet trickle ventilation and mechanical extracts.

The Council has appointed Bell Phillips Architects to deliver an exemplar scheme that will set a benchmark for new housing as well as acting as a catalyst for regeneration. The design involves a new community centre and 53 flats in three blocks, creating an active, two sided street to the existing estate, whilst opening up at the centre to create a generous courtyard garden. The undulating roof form gives dynamism to the new development whilst reducing the impact of light loss to the existing adjacent properties. Generous balconies provide south facing views towards the River Thames.

This secluded site, set within an urban Victorian block, is accessed via a passage through a Victorian Terrace house. The building is at garden level, about two meters below the made up street level. Historically the development of this plot came about by spanning a roof between existing adjacent buildings. This was done incrementally over time and with the help of a delicate steel frame. Whist the existing structure was in a derelict state, we really liked the beautiful well lit space, the delicate structure and the peace and tranquility of this place. The brief then turned to retaining these qualities in a well insulated contemporary rebuild and making this space work as a residential home.

Rather than carving up the main space of the building we decided to keep the main 'industrial' space as capacious as possible and to juxtapose the scale of the domestic bed and bathrooms by turning these into an oversize sculpture, a composition of ply wood boxes set within the larger space. To set the scene, we let the visitor enter through a minute door into a dark passage way. On opening the luminescent glazed doors at the end of this corridor you find yourself at the top of a wide set of stairs overlooking the large tranquil top lit space and at the far end you see the composition of plywood boxes.

Winner of the RIBA London Housing Award 2014

Canal Mills Leeds, is a former mill that was transformed into a diverse space for established and emerging talents to showcase their work in a creative environment. The aim for Canal Mills was to create a constantly evolving environment for all mediums of creative output, from exhibitions to pop-up restaurants to live and electronic music events.

PARKdesigned were appointed by Eric F. Box to create a contemporary extension to their existing bereavement home in Dewsbury. The brief for the project was “to create additional function space and a new entrance that is modern but also sensitive to the existing use”.
Our scheme responds elegantly to the complicated nature of the site; a randomly shaped parcel of land, located on a busy main road, with a dominant and rather quirky looking existing building in the background.The extension to the funeral home was a single storey building providing a new feature entrance, function room and store.

Castleton mills is a grade two listed building situated on the fringe of Leeds city centre. In 2012 the site was acquired by Resolut LLP and PARKdesigned (as executive architects) along with Architectural Emporium (interior design) have transformed this redundant mill into an industrial utopia, housing a network of creative industries with the ultimate aim of become a destination venue for art, lifestyle and commerce.

PARKdesigned were commissioned to refurbish an existing grade two listed building into music recording studios and offices. Chadwick Lodge is named after former textile businessman John Chadwick and was built in a classic Georgian style. The manor house is located south of the River Aire in Leeds on the junction of Crown Point Road and Black Bull Street.

The design has made the most of a confined site to create a contextual building within the existing cityscape. There is a deliberate play of opposites throughout; flush and recessed, rough and smooth, dark and light, solid and void within an overall composition that develops from a dark solid base to an open glazed top. Sustainable construction methods were adopted from inception and include an exposed concrete structure to enhance thermal mass combined with a highly insulated envelope; solar panels to supplement hot water provision; natural ventilation and a green roof.
The building has been awarded an RIBA London Award 2010 and RIBA London Building of the Year Award 2010. Bateman’s Row was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling

Studio Weave were selected as one of the ten finalists chosen from 475 entries for the Hans Christian Andersen House of Fairytales, an international competition organised by the Danish Architects’ Association and Odense City Museums.

Our proposal is for a series of buildings planted in a subterranean garden. The fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen often play with the distinction between what is natural and what is man-made, a theme that we’ve explored in our design. Bursting through the surface, the buildings create ruptures in the earth through which visitors can descend into an underworld of magic and stories.

We have imagined that the buildings, like trees, grow and have long organic roots reaching into the earth. The buildings are arranged on the site as one might arrange a garden or woodland, considering views to key specimens, and paths for meandering across the site. Among the roots are spaces for stories to unfold including a library, theatre, children’s experience and exhibition space.

The landscape is moulded to create height above large spaces, such as the Tinderbox and theatre. The arches follow these profiles creating the sinuous, curious atmosphere between the roots. Sunken courtyards are created by making cuts in the landscape that bring light down into the root level like clearings in a forest.

PARKdesigned were commissioned by a private client to remodel their existing home in North Leeds. The brief was to provide the family with an open plan kitchen/living/dining area that extends outside into the garden.
After developing the concept with the client a preferred single storey extension was chosen that compliments the existing house, this new addition was carried out under permitted development. As part of the interior design we worked with Dovetailors of Blubberhouses who were responsible for the kitchen unitry.

PARKdesigned were commissioned by a private client to evaluate the potential of remodelling Silverwood in order to restore some of the original architectural design. The main concern the client had was that the house had lost some of its original architectural integrity when the single storey extension and conservatory had been added to the house. The brief was to replace these with something more within keeping to the rest of the house.

PARKdesigned were commissioned to create a residential home in a greenbelt area for a down sizing retiring couple whose children had left home. The brief was to maintain the open feel of the barn in order to create a modern open plan living space whilst retaining the heritage of the building and maximising the tremendous views over West Yorkshire towards the Pennines.

PARKdesigned were commissioned to re-model and extend a 1930’s 3 bedroom semi-detached house for a growing family. A wrap around single storey extension (to both the side and rear) was designed with the focus of the house being a central kitchen/dining area. Although the scheme is open plan the design also creates separate sitting areas that the family can use when they require their own space. The project came in on time and on budget with a high quality finish.

Innocent moved into the Canal Building at Portobello Dock in April 2011. Stiff + Trevillion were awarded the job to design the fit out and rework the building to suit Innocent's brief. Key to this was removing a significant part of the first floor to create a double height communal space which overlooks the canal basin and is the heart of Innocent’s workspace. The office floors feature the ubiquitous grass carpet, and bespoke desking designed by Tom Dixon.

Luxury ready to-wear-label Rohmir opened in March 2010 its first stand alone boutique in Mayfair, designed by BWA. The very bespoke, slightly 'deco' interior, features bubinga veneer panels, a custom made chequered carpet, and chrome lighting.

Raw concrete, brick, timber, metal and light formed the underlying materiel pallet from our clients brief. Through a series of structural alterations this Victorian property was extended and opened out to form an elegant and light filled space enhanced by exposing and expressing the construction materials that are usually hidden or covered. Each material, found in its traditional locations is finished and dressed in white and enhanced with natural light to bring out their natural textures and qualities.

The previous layout of the house was enclosed and dark which our clients found disconnected and ask us to redress the situation. Connection, natural light and long views though the house also formed key aspects of the brief. We successfully achieved with views from the entrance and front living room through to the garden framed by the use of low profile Crittall doors and window to create an industrial elegance to this Victoria property.

Although open plan, we employed changes to floor levels & materials, ceiling heights and framed structural openings to ensure that each space maintained a sense of containment and boundary as our clients did not want to lose the individual nature of the rooms.

The concrete floor with underfloor heating at the rear acts as a thermal mass for the house and combined with high levels of insulation to the floor and walls and triple glazing to the rooflight with a layer solar control glazing all help maintain a cool space in the summer and warm in the winter.

Remodelling and extension of a Victorian terraced house.

An expansive new structure containing kitchen, living and gymnasium space has turned the rear of an Edwardian villa in a west London suburb into a compelling composition of old and new approaches to using brickwork and glazing

Jesselton Quay is an ambitious mixed-use scheme comprising commercial, residential, retail, hotel and generous public realm. Conceptually, the scheme consists of fractured floor plates and elevations, and a strong sense of flow through the scheme in reference to geological valleys, culminating at the sea. The site borders the South China Sea in Kota Kinabalu, and seeks to create a new city extension and marina which revisit the area’s history as one of Malaysia’s original waterfront cities. With distant views across the sea and back towards Mount Kinabalu and the inland mountain ranges, Jesselton will provide a very popular tourist destination.

This project involved the complete refurbishment and extension of a late 1960's 3-storey terraced townhouse. The existing building was completely stripped back, including removal of all the exterior PVC wall panels and windows, leaving only the integral brick walls. The brief was to create a large and special family home, with lots of natural light. Special consideration was given to the positioning of the family's Butsudan within the house as well as the connections and flow between the existing and new spaces.
The extension to the side and rear provides an additional 50m2 of space which wraps around the existing footprint of the building. The introduction of large skylights in the existing roof was an important move, which allows lots of natural light into the core of the existing house where previously there had been little or none. Black engineering brick walls replace the thin white PVC wall panels, which not only improve the overall thermal performance of the building, but introduce a playful surface of texture and pattern which changes in relation to shadow and light.

This project demonstrates how, through a process of removal, alteration and extension, the ubiquitous 1960's townhouse can be transformed into a unique and contemporary family home.

A new arts and activity building for a homeless charity in East London located on a small, landlocked site, containing art studio, workshops and offices. The colourful, faceted facade gives a strong identity for the plight of the homeless and presents a welcoming frontage. The permeable facade has activated the under-used courtyard and initiated a rolling programme of works to improve the public space and better link the other buildings forming the centre. An inventive use of materials and the provision of simple, flexible spaces means the building was delivered on a modest budget of £1200/sqm.

<p><strong>Coca-Cola 2012 Summer London Olympic and Paralympic Pavilion<br /></strong><strong>Runner-up out of four shortlisted</strong></p><p>With <a href="http://www.arup.com/" target="_blank">Ove Arup & Partners</a>, <a href="http://www.equalsconsulting.com/" target="_blank">Equals Consulting</a> and <a href="http://www.studiopettigrew.com/about/" target="_blank">Elisa Pettigrew</a></p><p>London, UK, 2012 <br /><br /></p><p>The Olympic pavilion presents the world’s first four-dimensional moving icon. Conceived in three basic parts - a base frame, moving structures and a bespoke net façade - the pavilion is simultaneously a stage for performances and a performance in itself. <br /><br />The changing form of the pavilion corresponds both to its internal use and the unpredictable weather, resulting in four primary configurations. These accommodate a wide variety of activities, from mass visitor flows to one-off dj events, and act as a weather indicator, alternating between sunshade and rainscreen. Using off-the-shelf mechanically-driven components, the structure extends in four directions with projecting balconies and a vertically moving trampoline. With its constantly changing form, every visit is a unique experience. Visitors circulate through lightweight transparent interior spaces, filled with inflatables and interactive sight, touch and sound exhibits. They are invited to play with the Media Wall, communicate with the athletes, drink at the bar under the ETFE roof and enjoy the moving framed views out to the Olympic grounds. The visit culminates with a bounce on the trampoline at the heart of the pavilion, linked via webcam to digital screens in Piccadilly Circus and around London. <br /><br />The pavilion is conceived as a bridge between architecture and fashion. Dressed in a stunning, iridescent, constantly shifting exterior envelope, it literally transforms into something you can wear: a custom-made net bag. The net, made from threads of recycled plastic Coca-Cola bottles, speaks of the playfulness, elasticity and ephemerality of the event-based nature of the Olympics, with clear sporting connotations. Though the proposal was not selected to be built, vPPR was one was of four emerging architecture practices shortlisted by Coca-Cola and The Architecture Foundation to participate in the competitive process.</p>

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.

AAVA have a well established relationship with Hugo Boss. We have worked on a number of shops from converted historic buildings to new shopping centre locations. We have successfully delivered a number of projects in line with the brands identity of well crafted, high end design.

The client for Eaton Terrace runs a monthly dining club from their home in central London, and our brief was therefore not only to design a small extension providing more living space for the family, but to also reconfigure the existing house to better accommodate guests.

The key move was to shift the kitchen to the first floor alongside the dining room and reintroduce partitions at ground floor level to create an office and snug. To the rear of the house we designed an infill extension with a huge rooflight to form a new day room. Bedrooms, the master bathroom and a second study are found on the second floor, with the basement re-designated as the son's quarters. An original extension off the main stair contains a guest WC and second bathroom at half landings.

Both the kitchen and built-in furnishings have been carefully designed using standard products but with detail nuances introduced to help provide a bespoke and more quirky aesthetic. A new underfloor heating installation requires the removal of the existing floorboards, which in turn are inventively re-used in the new furnishings and a bespoke door lining to the dining room.

Six homes, a mix of 1, 2, 3 & 4-beds, for seven adults and six children and shared facilities: 50m2 hall, laundry, workshop and shower room.

The design, in plan-form in particular, focuses on a typology that manifests the idea of ‘communality’. The resulting ‘cluster’ model places a court (orientated northeast-southwest) at the heart of the site beneath which the communal facilities are located and, around which the houses are laid out. 2-storey houses positioned east and west of the central court allow the morning and afternoon sunlight to enter this elevated outdoor ‘room’. The scheme allows for a continuous perimeter of communal gardens.

Compared to typical terraced houses where the public sphere ends at the front door, it is clear on entering 1-6 Copper Lane that, although defined, boundaries between public and private space have been extended beyond the norm.

This is London’s first co-housing scheme. The architecture supports an ‘intentional’ community and, with it’s shared facilities, heralds radical changes in the urban home. It shows how architecture can respond to a new social need that has arisen through changes in both lifestyles and economics, making home ownership more affordable as well as shaping more convivial and sustainable neighbourhoods.

Environmental performance: the building fabric - insulation, air tightness, and heat recovery - plays a vital role employing low-cost and proven technology. The only renewables are solar thermal panels. The embodied energy of construction has been considered in every respect: recycling waste material from the demolition; timber superstructure; timber cladding; timber fenestration and partial green roofs

The project was carried out in 2 phases. The 1st reconfigured and refurbished the derelict and unused rooms on the 1st floor into sumptuously decorated air-conditioned function rooms for private-hire comprising a boardroom/dining room, a gallery for art exhibitions to yoga classes, and a library for smaller meetings or solo working.

The 2nd phase converted the ground floor from a characterless pub into a uniquely styled brasserie and bar. Four distinct restaurant areas are arranged around the focal point of the room - the original central Victorian back-bar fitting, now used as a drinking and dining shelf. A new cocktail bar is installed along one side of the front room and incorporates a seafood display and sushi kitchen.

A project proposal to provide a new lecture theatre, seminar suite and leisure facilities for an existing Oxford college campus. Taking inspiration from the traditional roofscapes, historic colonnades and rich natural materials of their surroundings, the buildings are arranged around a central terraced cloister offering an enhanced aspect across the adjacent open landscape.

BWA completed its most adventurous residential project to date. Located in a totally urban location, in the heart of Westminster, this 1927 building (originally an old pub, then used for many years as an office building), has found a new purpose as a bright and modern upside down family home, with open plan living quarters clustered around a roof terrace. The section through the building has allowed for double height spaces and hidden staircases.

AAVA were commissioned to design a summer house for a family in rural Finland.

<p><b>Refurbishment of one half of a Grade II listed stable block to allow the whole building to function as a single house.</b></p><p>Built in 1610 as the stable block to Ham House, the Grade II listed building, which forms one wing of Ham House Stables, was converted into two residential units during the 1970s.</p><p>In the late 1990s Foster + Partners refurbished one unit and installed a modern steel and glass structure wrapped around the existing oak frame to create a split level house over three floors.</p><p>The project extends this refurbishment to provide additional living areas and a reconfigured bedroom arrangement that unifies the two units as one coherent house. The master bedroom has been brought down to the mezzanine level to create a private suite and the children’s bedrooms have been reconfigured on the upper roof level.</p><p>The refurbishment has retained the existing internal oak structure, restored the property's landmark chimney attached to the southern elevation and re-instated many of the buildings lost features, including the original blacksmiths fire.</p><p>Internally a mezzanine level has been removed to create a double height living room focused around the new open fire.</p><p>A fully integrated heating, lighting, audio and visual system has been installed that allows complete control from any networked phone/computer in house or remotely from anywhere globally.</p>

Completed in 2004, and recipient of a Civic Trust Award, this much 
published stand alone unit is one of the recent NHS and CABE flagship healthcare facilities, particularly known for its tranquil, inclusive and non-institutional environment.

As part of The Grosvenor Estate’s ongoing refurbishment and improvement works within the Mayfair Conservation Area in Westminster, a number of apartments in their 19th Century mansion block properties in Green Street have been remodelled to provide contemporary two bedroom residential units.

Queens is a fresh and contemporary building tucked behind part of the original façade of a 1930s Art Deco cinema on Bishops Bridge Road, Bayswater. Behind the retained facade, sixteen flats have been created above ground floor retail space. The scheme has also re-configured traffic flow to create a new public space on the corner of Westbourne Grove.

The new elevations were designed to compliment the Art Deco styling of the front facade, and have been clad in specially manufactured glazed terracotta panels.

The proposal reinstates the original rooms and allows for a new rear glazed conservatory to maximise natural light towards the rear of the property. The fresh clean lines create a modern traditional style, sympathetic with the existing house.
The challenge was to work with the historic fabric, a Georgian townhouse with relatively small floor plates developing over five storeys, whilst adding a sense of flow to the spaces. The design proposed the insertion of only two new features: a framed chevron cut pattern to all stone and timber floors and suited joinery throughout. The simplicity of the concept contributes to creating a sense of continuity and flow as one moves throughout the house.
"Our team at MWAI were a pleasure to work with during the extensive renovation of our Mayfair home, a project that lasted 2 years. They were highly professional with a keen eye for detail. Alessia was very accommodating of our travel schedule and would always make herself available to us. Nothing was too much bother and no request declined. The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the fact that we have just instructed MWAI again in relation to another London property." - client.

The redevelopment and conversion of a listed 19th Century building in the heart of the Belgravia Conservation Area to create a contemporary single dwelling townhouse for The Grosvenor Estate.

The completed development provides contemporary spaces while respecting the listed status of the building.

The refurbishment and remodelling of a residential building in the Belgravia Conservation Area of Westminster for The Grosvenor Estate.

The property in Grosvenor Crescent Mews is the oldest building in the UK to achieve an ‘Excellent’ rating in the BREEAM EcoHomes Environmental Assessment.

It was extended to the rear with the addition of a new terrace. A palette of oak finished doors and floors, white walls, dark Jura limestone bathrooms created a homogeneous interior creating a dramatic sense of space within a constricted floor plate.

The stairs up from the ground floor front door were too steep to meet current regulations and the front door had to open outward because there was no landing space so they had to be rebuilt. This involved negotiations with the RCA estates management who owned the offices below. The structural alterations that allowed the ceilings to be taken down were complex but were essential to the design. Lighting was integrated within the beams to create a sense of space and light at all times of the day.

As part of The Grosvenor Estate’s ongoing refurbishment and improvement works within the Mayfair Conservation Area in Westminster, a number of apartments in their 19th Century mansion block properties in Green Street have been remodelled to provide contemporary two bedroom residential units.

The redevelopment of a two bedroom, 19th Century mews house into a contemporary/ classic three bedroom property to form part of a developers rental portfolio.

The proposals involved the comprehensive replacement of all internal fixtures and fittings, the replacement of the main staircase and associated circulation spaces and the addition of a new landscaped garden area.

At the core of the concept is the ambition to bring cohesion to a disparate campus, integrating existing buildings with new central student facilities. These links provide fluid movement across the new campus for the first time, where academic spaces co-exist with social areas for the enjoyment of students and staff alike.

Above all, the scheme provides adaptable and flexible accommodation for changing curricula and teaching patterns. Designed from first principles for low-energy consumption in construction and in use, the John Henry Brookes and Abercrombie Building was designed to meet the University’s vision for a ‘holistic approach to enhancing the student experience’.

To achieve the vision, the new building needed to contain a critical mass of accommodation. This includes social learning spaces, main library, lecture theatre, teaching rooms and catering. To give cohesion to the whole campus the core conceptual idea is of a central glowing box interpenetrated by pegs, which reach out to the existing campus. These pegs, whilst fulfilling the need for new and better university space, crucially provide the enclosure to a series of new but different external spaces.

The Colonnade peg running towards London Road forms the Eastern boundary to the new Piazza. The Abercrombie peg creates a new façade to the Southern edge of a re-modelled central courtyard. The Library peg relates to the internal Forum and creates a new north/south street. And finally the Pooled Teaching and Food Hall peg forms the edge to a future courtyard behind Sinclair as well as new western courtyard and terrace.
The main University reception is housed within the main building, overlooking the forum space. The main entrance area is intended as a place to pause. It is at this point that visitors will be welcomed and, particularly during open days, it is important that there is a generous space for people to gather.

Winner of 2014 RIBA National Award and Stirling Prize Midlist.

Originally a Victorian live-work coach-and-horses stables with hayloft and coachman’s quarters above, this 19th century mews house is now home to an award winning architects’ studio and 4-bedroom upper maisonette.

The two-stage retrofit began on the ground floor, where the architects’ studio is located. Having suffered from previous domestic conversions into dark, cramped cellular spaces, the ground floor has been re-opened up into a single horse-shoe shaped space. The design reveals the original Victorian ironworks, wall tiles, timber paneling, cobblestones, etc.

The second stage of the retrofit was the upper masionette, which has 4-bedrooms and 2-bathrooms on the 1st floor and an open-plan living/kitchen/dining space above. By locating the shared living space on the top floor, all occupants can enjoy the natural daylight provided by the rooflights and dormers.

Leading the design decisions throughout the build was the priority to retain the original Victorian features while making as many carbon-reducing improvements as possible (working towards Code of Sustainable Building
Code Level 4):
- ‘Wrap up Warm!’ upgrading all external fabric with a combination of PIR and wood-fibre insulation, while ensuring to always ventilate the existing
- MVHR units installed in the upper masionette
- New Histoglass double glazing fitted into original timber window sashes;
- Triple glazed units fitted into dormer windows and rooflights
- Water saving and energy efficient fittings (A* or better)

A complete refurbishment was needed to update a dated 90s interior to suit the style of a more contemporary owner.

Relocating the front door and staircase enabled Stiff + Trevillion to reduce the amount of circulation space needed, increasing usable space, and introducing daylight into the middle of a deep plan.

The refurbished property celebrates the flexibility, and industrial style that are the essence of mews buildings in a contemporary way.

A backland site within a conservation area in Clapham which, prior to redevelopment consisted of a dilapidated cottage and lock-up garages, was last used as a car repair business.

A development for Amhola Ltd., Wardell Mews comprises one three bed and three five bed houses, of two and three storeys including the lower ground floor, with driveway access from Hannington Road.

BWA completed the refurbishment of the new Russell Square headquarters of the Wiener Library, the world's oldest Holocaust memorial institution. The high ceilinged first floor Reading Room, with its book storage mezzanine, along with the ground floor reception and meeting room, have transformed the image of the Library. The building opened in December 2011.

TFP received unanimous Planning Permission for this scheme which sits within the re-creation of 70 acres of meadows, and an informal leisure area. We were appointed following a limited architectural competition.

The design presents a modern appearance for this multi-use facility whilst being appropriate to the Green Belt, with the building taking its lead from the change in levels and contour across the site. As a result it is partly buried in the landscape.

The choice of materials and detailing was made with sustainability in mind, using Oak planks for part of the elevations, timber boarding at other points and robust panels elsewhere. The flat, ‘green’ roof provides a habitat for wildlife, minimising the discharge of water from the roof and softening its impact upon the landscape. The building also has a well insulated fabric with solar panels and ground source heat pumps.

The Pavilion services the four new junior/mini football pitches, two of which can also be used as senior pitches (which are to FA standard). It houses changing rooms, a community hall with kitchen, and accommodation for the Essex Wildlife Trust. A Site Manager also lives on the site in a 3 bedroom flat.

The building was officially opened by HRH The Earl of Wessex in November 2011.

AWARDS:

Green Apple Environment Award 2011 for Building and Construction, ‘Environmental Education Projects’

Ty Hedfan meaning ‘hovering house’, is an exploration of the practice’s interest in highly site specific and contextual architecture which takes its cue from the traditional Welsh long house form and the topographical constraints of the site.

The Parabola Arts Centre provides a state of the art 325-seat theatre and performing arts centre for The Cheltenham Ladies’ College. The centre comprises a new auditorium building, linked to a refurbished Grade II* listed Regency villa, constructed in 1840. The new building is used by the College for drama, music and dance, and by the local community for external events such as the Cheltenham Festivals.

The design falls into three parts, comprising:
• The original house, restored to provide foyers,
backstage areas and teaching space
• A new auditorium extension at the rear, replacing a
former 1970s office extension
• A glazed link, containing a lift and stairs, connecting
the new extension to the house

We employed a number of visual devices and treatments to enable the new building to sit successfully within its neighbourhood. The oval shape minimises the perceived mass of the extension and the external walls are constructed in Bath stone, prevalent in Cheltenham.

The design of the curved walls are articulated in a language, which reflects the neighbouring Grade II* listed buildings, but expressed in a contemporary manner with minimal decoration.

“At the Chapel” is a restaurant, bar, club, bakery and wine shop created in a Grade 2 Listed Congregational Chapel in Bruton, Somerset. The building has a simple robust architecture and a history of public use that is well suited to its new function and capitalises on these inherent characteristics to create a venue with a great sense of style and place.

Materials are limited to reclaimed oak, local Doulton stone, white painted plaster and simple black iron fittings to create a very effective backdrop to the complexity, richness and variety of the local produce and cuisine on offer. As the Guardian restaurant critic wrote: “it was as close to a religious experience as this rampant atheist is ever likely to have in a house of the Lord”.

BWA completed the full refurbishment of a large Georgian family house, having obtained planning permission for a spectacular roof terrace, reached via a new contemporary staircase. The project is also notable for its provision of very high quality bespoke joinery, creating storage on every level.

TFP's subsidiary, Accredited Passivhaus Design's 13 Passivhaus dwellings for Crawley Borough Council have received unanimous planning approval. These seven houses and six flats will be amongst the first housing built by Crawley Borough Council in the last 30 years and are expected to be the first of many more.

Located in the Three Bridges area of Crawley these family homes are sustainably located on a vacant brownfield site near local shops and the Three Bridges Community Centre. The site layout creates a new urban space in front of the community centre whilst also providing an improved road access to the adjacent Three Bridges Primary School.

The new houses and flats are efficiently planned, with two terraces of houses and one block of flats. Due to the narrow plots available, the houses are shallow in depth with a double fronted plan. This allows the main rooms in the two and three bedroom houses to have windows to the front and back providing good natural lighting with additional through ventilation in the summer.

As council housing is provided for people in housing need, the low energy use of these Passivhaus homes will make a strong contribution to reducing fuel poverty with very low bills for residents, with the knock-on benefit to the landlord of low rent arrears. Also, the good construction quality of these dwellings, including triple glazed windows and continuous filtered, pre-warmed fresh air ventilation, will ensure durability and comfort for the future.

Works have now competed on site for this beautiful, three-storey townhouse located in London Fields.

The property itself was formerly divided into separate units and subsequently the lower ground floor was completely unused and in need of major repair works to transform this into a modern family home.

SODA. has created a design which juxtaposes the original Victorian features with a sleek, open-plan kitchen and family room - linked to the gardens via a newbuild rear extension. The remainder of the house has also been remodelled to accommodate additional bedrooms and a loft conversion added to maximise available space.

With ecological design at the top of the agenda, a sustainable, timber-clad extension was proposed to contrast with the original brickwork. The designs include integrated swallow nesting-boxes and a polished concrete slab which flows from the lower ground garden terrace through the kitchen and family rooms and into a bespoke polished shower tray.

Our proposals removed hap hazard extensions added over the past 20 years and restored a balanced relationship between original and new. The ground level is now linked to the basement area by a double height circulation space top lit by a large rooflight which in turns throws daylight into the depth of the house. The rear elevation explores transparency and relationship between living spaces and garden.

The Yaa Centre is a new Carnival Arts and Community Centre for Carnival Village and provides a new home for Yaa Asantewaa, the Association of British Calypsonians and Ebony Steel Band. Its facilities include workshops for making costumes and floatsfor carnival and the tuning of steel pans, a dedicated steel pan rehearsal room, together with offices, arts and IT education rooms, a café and an informal central performance space for carnival artists and the local community.

The building is located in an enclosed courtyard, surrounded by other properties on three sides, and makes maximum use of rooflights to introduce natural light to the interior. It combines an original 19th century mews building with new construction. The proximity of the nearby housing required that the building was designed with a high level of acoustic separation to avoid disturbance to residents.

The project received a commendation in the Civic Trust Awards 2013 and was shortlisted for RIBA and RICS awards in 2012 and 2013. The Architect’s Journal said about the project: “ ...the detailed design is impeccable. It has also provided a unique artistic, almost residential identity, closer to one of the Architectural Review’s Emerging Architecture projects than to Notting Hill vernacular, founded on a tectonic that manages to be tough without feeling utilitarian.”

This is Stiff + Trevillion's second project with renowned restauranteur, Mark Hix.

The beautifully designed 140-seat restaurant, located in a Victorian metal factory, comprises of over 7000 sq ft and is divided between two striking dining rooms and a cocktail bar - Mark's, in the basement. The restaurant features a vast glass fronted kitchen, neon signage by Tracey Emin, and show-stopping work by leading British artists Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Henry Hudson, Pauline Amos, Gary Webb and Mat Coll

Studio 54 Architecture submitted a Planning Application on behalf of A2 Dominion for the conversion of the Old Electricity sub-station on Arlington Rd in Camden in 2013 and was granted Planning Approval on Appeal in July 2014.

The project for 21 residential units involves the development of the old Electricity Sub Station site at 142-150 Arlington Rd on the corner of Stanmore Place which has been empty for many years. The scheme in the Camden Town Conservation Area retains the front and side facades of the building while replacing most of the rear facade and includes a set- back roof extension. The Planning Inspector noted that the new rear elevation would achieve notable benefits for the residential conversion of the building and would provide a positive improvement to the character of the area: it would make Stanmore Place more inviting, integrate it into the activity of the High Street and would enhance the pedestrian route.

The building has a deep plan and occupies the entire site so getting daylight to the middle of the site and creating amenity space onto the street is difficult. The Arlington frontage is the principle elevation with windows opening onto the original turbine hall. Underhill St has a blank façade and the façade onto the back of the site is lower and windowless. The original architectural style is classically inspired with regularly spaced large brick pilasters, a deep cornice and parapets.

Our architectural approach has been to retain the front and side facades. The new accommodation is built up to the Arlington Road frontage where existing window openings are lowered. At the back of the building onto Stanmore Place, the existing corner bay is retained, but the rest of the façade is demolished, to be replaced by a new stepped plan and section which creates amenity space and an active frontage onto what is currently an underused and neglected area.

Affordable accommodation is in the larger units located with access to the street. For sale units are located on the upper floors with access from an entrance on Arlington Rd with a single lift and stairs.

We worked closely with Radlett Park Golf Club to design a new £2.5million clubhouse, and improve parts of the course, driving range and landscaping. The clubhouse takes advantage of the natural topography of the site so that one enters the building on the upper level into the spike bar, lounge bar and restaurant. From here a full width glazed façade with large sliding doors and adjoining terrace provide panoramic views across the course. Changing facilities, pro-shop and management suite have been planned on the lower level corresponding with the level of the adjacent golf course.

A family home for 4 persons and two cats transformed a former Georgian plot that was previously used as a sweatshop in the 1950’s. Located just off Brick Lane the project comprises a glorious remodelled Georgian home, three bedrooms and two reception rooms and a large family kitchen dining room.

The attic storey is the master bedroom with commanding views out to the city of London. Two further bedrooms for Oliver and Isabella are situated on the second floor with a walk in wet room. The first floor is in keeping with the neighbourhood as a Piano Noble drawing room and the ground floor reception rooms lead to a small fern garden at the rear. The kitchen is modern and light located in the lower ground floor with direct access to the rear garden. The front of the house is entirely rebuilt in the Georgian style of 1725.

A new building on a heavily overlooked urban site comprising artist gallery, photographic studios and residential house and apartments. The carefully choreographed spaces, delivered to a tight budget demonstrates our ability to turn challenges in to creative opportunities. The artist and photographic studios front the street using a patterned Corten steel façade and a projecting ‘hoisting box’ to echo the industrial aesthetic. Hidden behind is a courtyard house with a folding green roof that brings light to the main living areas and addresses the issues of overlooking.

The longest bench in Britain seats over 300 people along the spine of Littlehampton's coastline and measures 324 metres in length. Studio Weave was part of this project from the very beginning to create something unusual along the run-down promenade, overlooking the town's award winning Blue Flag beach. We worked with local school children to inspire and develop the design. Our playful approach to creating an imaginative and stretching sense of place has chimed with people of all ages, leading to a strong sense of shared ownership. Microfunding was crucial to the success of the project with supporters making donations to have a personal message engraved on the bench, helping it stretch even further.

The Longest bench is made from thousands of hardwood bars reclaimed from old seaside groynes (including Littlehapton's) and landfill. The variety of timber is interspersed with splashes of bright colour wherever the beach wriggles, bends or dips. Old shelters have been replaced by bronze-finished monocoque loops, connecting the promenade with the green behind. The longest Bench has been published in magazines and newspapers around the world. At the 2012 Civic Trust Awards, the Longest Bench won the special Award for Community Impact and Engagement.

A new build family house on three floors with an indoor swimming pool and generous covered terrace set in an area of ancient woodland on the edge of Ashdown Forest in East Sussex that although clearly contemporary in the palette of materials and pared back aesthetic used also recalls the honest quality of the agricultural buildings around. Winner of RIBA 2014 South East Regional and National Awards.

This project was the University of Winchester’s latest commission for a new learning and teaching building. The St. Alphege Building is situated within a central location of the King Alfred Campus and was officially opened in January 2013 by His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex.
The St. Alphege Building provides 10 flexible teaching studios, breakout spaces, a high level rooftop extension and a glazed atrium linking the existing and new buildings. The building occupies a steeply sloping site and the southern elevation overlooks a large playing field with distant views towards the downs. A former 1930’s Faculty of Arts building was demolished to make way for the new building. The new building (St.Alphege) is physically connected to an existing 1970’s St.Edburga teaching building , which has undergone extensive refurbishment works, as part of a second phase of the project.
The University of Winchester’s brief was to initially provide 8 teaching spaces within a new building for approximately 600 students. The site with an existing 1920’s examination hall, was adjacent to an existing 1970‘s teaching building, which had to remain partially operational during construction. Phase 2 of the works converted a further two lecture spaces to the existing building and provided two additional lecture rooms and open learning space as part of a rooftop extension.
As part of the University’s aspiration to drive higher standards of excellence for studying and the student experience, the building was set to achieve BREEAM excellent from the outset of the project. This has seen innovative technology and design used to harness and control passive environmental factors. This gives a more comfortable and controllable space that aids teaching and wellbeing. It also provides the obvious environmental benefits of natural light, natural ventilation and reduced energy consumption. As well as providing excellent teaching rooms, particular attention was given to the external areas between campus buildings, which form a critical social space and important frontage for the University
of Winchester. Winner of 2012 RIBA Regional Award.

BWA completed the design and fit-out of the headquarters for an established women's garment business. An existing, dilapidated light industrial unit has been fully refurbished to provide design studios, showrooms, administrative offices and a warehouse extending to almost 50,000 square feet over ground floor and a modified mezzanine level. The result is a clean, elegant and spacious environment, with carefully selected fittings and much natural light throughout.

This Victorian end-of-terrace house had suffered from substantial subsidence in the past and was in poor structural condition. Despite these defects, our Client had fallen in love with its charm; the brief was to refurbish the original house, extend it honestly in a modern idiom, and make it ready for starting a family.

An exhaustive value-analysis revealed that the most appropriate approach in terms of cost, quality and sustainability was to entirely dismantle the house and reconstruct it out of the salvaged elements. These included architraves, doors, ceiling roses, joists, floor boards, bricks and the whole staircase. Joinery was removed to a workshop, renovated and then reinstated.

The finished building is a modern re-build and expansion following the outline of the demolished and expanding the rear ground floor. On the rear ‘extension’, recycled brick side walls grip a modern open-plan living space, wrapped up and over by artificial-slate walls and roofs. These extrusions define the new faces to the garden - fully glazed at both levels. Sliding doors to the garden are strategically inflected at an angle in plan, focusing the view towards the church spire in the urban gap at the end of the surrounding gardens.

Despite the complex process of careful demolition, salvage and re-instatement, our Client was able to move back in after less than a year of construction.

The brief was to make this Victorian, town house, with an existing extension, ‘work better’. The original, conservatory style kitchen was uncomfortably hot in the Summer and too cold in the Winter. The basement was just too small and the interior was in need of complete redecoration.

The new basement is a larger, more workable space and houses a media room and library, while a utility room and shower room sit under the extension at the rear. The shower room is a stunning marble white box with a resin floor.

A new kitchen/dining room occupies the ground floor extension. A solid, zinc clad roof is pierced with a dramatic hydraulic skylight. Careful consideration was given to the relationship between the kitchen and the garden. The result is a beautifully framed view from the kitchen as well as the longer view from the raised living room.

Directly above the kitchen extension hovers a glass study ‘pod’. This is a very slick solution creating an airy office space with a totally glass corner giving a unique view over the gardens beyond.

Built on the edge of the River Alde in Suffolk, Broombank is a new build house designed by SOUP Architects on a designated site of ‘Outstanding Natural Beauty’.

The building is set into the banks of the sloped site and accessed via a single-track lane that arrives into a sunken entrance courtyard, offering glimpses of the views beyond. The oak lined entrance space set behind the ground floor pale grey brick façade, is continued through the house to the informal, angular living areas that open out into the expansive marshland landscape to the south.

Large, sliding glass doors allow the surrounding landscape to be ever present throughout the house and carefully positioned rooflights allow day/sunlight to fill the spaces throughout the day. The use of naturally finished oak panels, power floated white concrete floors internally is complimented by the continuation of the handmade Petersen bricks from outside and the injection of small amounts of vibrant colour to the kitchen and bathrooms give the project a strong material richness.
The thermal mass of the concrete floors, masonry walls built into the earth bank and highly insulated sedum roofs help to maintain an excellent ambient internal temperature. An integrated MVHR heat recovery system ensures the demand for internal space heating is kept to a minimum and solar water panels on the roof supplement the demand for hot water all year around.

The brief from our client was to create a relaxed contemporary house within a reconsidered, ‘natural’ landscape that blurred the site boundaries to its neighbours and adjoining marshland. The undulating wild turf lawn creates a softened edge to the house into which the black lined pool extends.

Broombank won an RIBA East Award in 2014.

Recently winning three RIBA awards including South East Building of the Year 2013, this building is part of a project to bring public function to a neglected corner of Dartford Park, now re-named Ecology Island.

The building acts as a jolly custodian for the re-imagined park. Both the brief and design for Ecology of Colour were designed to place emphasis on community engagement and creating a meaningful educational resource.

The Ecology of Colour is a small building that provides flexible accommodation for a programme of events and workshops based around dyeing and wildlife; planting a meadow of flowers and vegetables that yield natural dyes and beckon wildlife. The intention is for the initial series of events to be followed by the foundation of a friends' group, in order to firmly root the projects's activities in its local community.

The colour timber-clad structure is an outdoor classroom, dyeing workshop, art studio, bird-watching hide, tree house and park shelter all rolled into one. Shutters of various sizes on the upper floor allow for activities ranging from quiet, hidden bird watching, and nature drawing workshops, to public events that spill out into the park. It is patterned with 'Joy' by graphic designers Nous Vous.

The Abercrombie Building forms the first phase of the much larger New Library and Teaching Building for Oxford Brookes University. The extended Abercrombie building rehouses and consolidates the Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment, which includes the School of Architecture.
The extension runs to the south of Abercrombie and engages with the main New Library and Teaching Building, helping to knit the new with the old. The new extension is linked to the existing building by means of glass bridges and shared meeting galleries, forming a dramatic interior with internal spaces opening onto the void.
The building is an example to students of best practice in terms of sustainability, construction, design and facilities. The void itself, with its high glass roof forms an environmental moderator, allowing in light, and air and framing views of areas not only on the same level, but to other parts of the school and outside to a courtyard.
Whilst the upper floors serve the faculty the ground floor is part of the wider University domain. The space incorporates a gallery space as well as cafe and experimental social learning space.

Buro Happold’s Bath office is located within a narrow 19th century wharf building overlooking the River Avon. This comprises two structures, Camden Mill to the east joining the Bayer Building to the west. The site is flanked to the north by the River Avon and to the south by the Lower Bristol Road. In recent years the firm has grown considerably with the Bath office doubling in headcount to 450, putting pressure on the existing internal space. This, coupled with a desire to improve access to the building for disabled employees and visitors, resulted in plans to extensively modify the ground and first floors within the building.

Before Design Engine were able to consider the interior spaces they had to solve the ambiguity of how the building is entered. Due to the constraints of this narrow site, all front and back of house facilities needed to be accessed via two existing entrances into the car park, situated to the east end of this 70m building. These entrances were also partially masked by an existing electrical substation. As the substation could not be economically re-located, Design Engine’s brief was to re- configure the entrance area to provide a clear route to reception around it, and provide a service access and yard area behind it.

Design Engine’s solution was to re-clad the electrical substation with a circle of vertical timber fins, designed to mask the substation and orientate visitors around its perimeter, towards a new glass riverside entrance porch. LED lights wash an internal lining behind the louvres, revealing an illuminated surface between the blades. Through its geometry the circle also creates a discrete service entrance and yard to the rear. This yard controls and leads to the back of house spaces.

BWA were approached to convert a redundant 1990s office block, substantially extending it to the front and adding a penthouse conference room to the roof. The 1,600 sq m NHS medical centre houses 16 doctors, 5 nurses, pharmacy and a dentist suite. Design features include room layouts divided

<div>An addition and remodelling to a Victorian house in Twickenham. An imprint of the existing front facade of the house is relocated within a floating stainless steel frame to the front of a new side addition. This floating facade is separated from both the new addition behind and existing house by a band of structural glass. The new addition is characterised by its separation and glass connection to the existing building at both the front and the rear. 
The front facade to the side addition is a subtle framing of the existing building supported on a cantilevered structure with just two 12mm rods for lateral restraint. To the rear, the cantilever condition is repeated and is more explicit in its execution. A new rear facade folds over the glazed void framing views into the garden. The facade hovers at first floor level unsupported by columns. It cantilevers from the original house over the garden to create a protected steel stair which links the new living space to both the garden and the new kitchen and dining space below. 
The existing basement level is lowered at the rear to form a new dining and kitchen space. A double height glass void links the new side addition, new basement, a new study and the existing ground floor living space. Each folds into the glass volume and has framed views either into or through it to the garden beyond.</div><div><p>There are 12 cantilevers within the project. Some are discreet and some are overt. The floating framed front elevation sits on a steel cantilever frame, it is restrained by two 12mm rods but its cutting and repositioning from the existing building attempts to be subtle but unnerving as, on closer inspection, it breaks the conventions of traditional building technique. In contract the rear elevation hangs form a hidden cantilevering beam of 600mm depth at roof level which acts as a large scale framing device for the rear garden. Both rear addition and front elevation have structural bonded glass infill’s between new and old.</p><p> </p></div><div> </div>

This 84-unit scheme for Linden Homes will complete the South Chase of Phase 1 of the award- winning Newhall development in Harlow, Essex.

ABA’s approach integrates a mix of new and familiar house typologies, prefabricated timber construction and a highly efficient masterplan to maximize living space and flexibility for individual homes. The scheme’s geometric and material consistency was inspired by the powerful roof forms and simple materials of Essex’s rural buildings. ABA has utilised these geometries to bring light into terraced courtyard houses, allow rooms in the roof, permit oblique views to the landscape beyond the site, and to introduce a sculptural rhythm to the scheme’s streetscapes.

The development consists of 84 units across four building types; 5 Apartment buildings containing 6,7 or 8 flats each; 14 Villas; 29 Courtyard Houses and 7 Terraced Houses totalling 84 units, 26% of which are affordable. The Development is highly sustainable and is built to Lifetime Homes Standards.

All housing types incorporate covered front porches; central stair halls; roof terraces; Juliette balconies and cathedral ceilings. Loft spaces either finished as bedrooms or can be retrofitted by homebuyers as workspaces, additional bedrooms or games rooms. Villas and Courtyard houses all have a ground floor study – ABA consider this additional room as essential for accommodating the electronic media and home working lifestyles of the 21C.

Set amongst the period villas and terraces that surround Holland Park in London's Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea the new build family house arranged over five floors with a strongly contemporary appearance has full width folding glazed doors to the lower two floors enabling the living spaces to be opened up to the courtyard garden beyond.

Radley College is situated between Kennington and Abingdon on the eastern edge of Radley Village and commands views across South-West Oxfordshire. Established in 1847 by the Rev. William Sewell, it now accommodates up to 684 boys.

This project represents a significant milestone for Radley College as it addresses a number of important operational issues that have existed for some time. In addition, the College identified a number of space needs for both teaching and social accommodation for the school. Ten new teaching classrooms were required to enable the subjects of history and politics to be taught ‘under one roof’. This addressed the shortages of dedicated classrooms, where previously multiple use classrooms were relied upon leading to significant timetabling problems.

Radley College has a prolific art department whose expansion needed to include a new gallery (The Sewell Gallery) and additional space was required to provide secure display and storage of the boys’ artwork during and after assessment. The secure gallery also enables high profile and important artists to show their work.

A new social space was required as a much-needed place for the boys to relax and meet outside of the confines of their boarding houses or ‘socials’, where space of this nature is limited. The new social space will also be a place where College staff can receive parents of the boys and where parents can meet with their children in both open and private environments. The café will offer users light refreshments during the day and at times when the main dining facility is not accessible.

As well as addressing a number of important issues for the College, the project also represented a unique opportunity to improve the environment of the Clocktower Court and realise its potential as a civic space in the heart of the College campus.
Given the importance of the Clocktower Court, the development deliberately placed the civic activities to engage with this space. The elevation of this part of the new proposal is colonnaded in brickwork and is proportioned so as to moderate the scale difference between the monumental Rackets Court and the more domestically scaled Old Fives Court building.

The new development places the classrooms as a linear building over two storeys in the same orientation as the Rackets Court. The lower storey is a brick colonnade, which offers a new covered entrance route, taking pedestrians away from the existing roadside route that swings around the front elevation of the Rackets Court.

The end elevation of the classroom building is deliberately played down to allow space for Artwork and to avoid competing with the more ornate frontage to the Rackets Court. The roofs of the classrooms are deliberately pitched so as not to conflict with the roof of the Rackets Court, and as a result they offer a sculpted space internally to the upper classrooms. They are capped with light and ventilation stacks, which will drive the passive ventilation systems to the two-storey building.

<p>A garden studio and refurbishment to a typical Victorian suburban house. The garden is transformed into a courtyard condition which is addressed by both the studio and the remodelled house. The main studio facade that addresses the garden floats above a glass panel and forms a screen to separate the work-space of the studio from the domestic garden.</p><p>The courtyard condition created has a different language to the conventional suburban garden. It’s predominantly hard landscape is characterised by a timber surface, which can transform from formal “public” landscape in the weekdays into a children’s play area at the weekend. A series of timber hatches lift to reveal a subterranean sandpit, a fire pit and paddling pool with hot and cold plumbed water. The timber garden also houses a small circular lawn and the hidden pump and filter system for an adjacent pond.</p><p>The materials of the studio make reference to the suburban context; timber cladding echoes domestic fencing, corrugated aluminium refers to inter-war prefabricated garages and a former Anderson shelter. The studio is super-insulated and benefits from a sedum roof; heating is provided by Apple Macintosh computers with very occasional recourse to under floor heating. The main facade is unsupported along its full length and rests on cantilevered sidewalls. The wall construction is entirely from stressed ply composite panels with no hidden steel supporting frame.</p><p>With a move to working from home the separation and thresholds between domestic and workspace become a key consideration. Typically home workers occupy a spare bedroom or living room and are compromised with disruption from the domestic environment. By locating the workspace in a separate studio space these disadvantages are overcome, however there needs to be flexibility and adaptability with this approach. Whilst the studio addresses the garden as a floating fence to create separation it is also usable as a family space at weekends and evenings; the children are able to use the computers (with their own log-ins!) as well as layout surfaces for homework and play.</p>

The latest venture from renowned restaurateurs Russell Norman and Richard Beatty (Polpo, Mishkins, Spuntino), sought to redevelop a prominent building in the heart of London’s theatreland into a modern British pub.

Serving food throughout, the venue features four distinct areas over three floors: the ground floor comprises a handsome 70-seater restaurant juxtaposed alongside a traditional “spit and sawdust” style pub. The first floor sees a continuation of the restaurant (complete with mural by artist Neal Fox) within a more intimate setting, whilst the basement houses the back of house areas and a clandestine, late-night, dive bar.

SODA. worked alongside Russell Norman to develop and deliver the spatial arrangements of the four separate spaces and internal layouts of the buildings as a whole. A number of bespoke fittings were also commissioned – most notably the feature bar at ground floor, the sweeping “tram-style” benches and the leather-clad seating booths throughout. These items sit alongside the now synonymous Polpo hallmarks such as the pressed tin ceilings and distressed plaster wall finishes.

<p>Seafield is a new building in a strikingly beautiful location on the Isle of Man's craggy coastline. The small building contains guest accommodation ancillary to the main house on a country estate, on which Gort Scott has carried out three separate projects. </p><p>The building has been designed as a contemporary response to the stark and austere traditional Manx cottages. Castletown Stone, the local stone, has been used to clad the building, applied in the traditional method by local specialist craftsmen. This stone is incised with crisp, pale precast concrete window surrounds and these are matched by a slender balcony and cast-in-place stair.</p><p> The building grows out of an existing boundary wall, also in traditional Castletown Stone. It has an asymmetrical profile, which forms a simple silhouette against the dramatic landscape. </p><p> Inside, the upstairs living room follows the tall roof profile up to a sky light at the top, and the balcony provides a south-facing spot with views across the fields to the nearby rocky coast.</p>

Highbury Terrace Mews is a classic London mews where over time architects and owners have been given license to build an eclectic mix of houses of all types and styles in materials which include brick, timber, floor to ceiling glazing, render and aluminium. 17A was built by a developer as part of a group of 5 houses in 1988 to replace a laundry. The houses are uncharacteristic of the rest of the mews: a confusion of Post Modern, Victorian and Georgian styles, in a mixture of brick and render, with some ill considered detailing. 17A, which is the end of the terrace, was set back with a pedimented gable section stepping forward over the entrance. The design brief quickly evolved from a modest exercise to add a shower room and upgrade windows and thermal insulation to a very exciting project to completely re-design, simplify and rationalise the whole front elevation and to fit out a number of key internal spaces. It was exciting to challenge the existing design vocabulary of the terrace while retaining the existing structure and openings, to design within the spirit of the best of the mews architecture, and create something bold and well detailed using a limited pallet of materials. After studying a range of cladding options including render and metal it was decided that a timber rain screen would be the most tolerant of the existing structure and most adaptable to the new form. It would also visually and texturally offer warmth and strength. The Planning process was challenging but through debate and consultation, planning officers were persuaded and the scheme was accepted without any compromise. The elevation was modified by altering the pedimented section, replacing the windows and cladding the front above the ground floor: The larch timber cladding is of variable width and is stained charcoal black. The exposed brickwork at the ground floor level has been paint washed grey to create a gentler transition from the black. Existing window openings have been reused and 2 new openings formed. Fixed windows are set flush with the cladding; opening windows are set back in deep set oiled cedar clad reveals. This gives the façade a dynamic quality and helps to articulate a satisfying rhythm. The stepped section and pediment has been replaced by a simple shift in plan and a consistent horizontal roof line. The roof drainage gutters and down pipes are hidden behind the new cladding which helps retain a clean uncluttered facade. The front door was retained and painted orange, the steps were reformed and widened, and 2 planting beds created either side. Key internal spaces - study and bedrooms, are fitted out in cedar.

The overall impact is to detach the end of terrace from the immediate neighbours, to create a distinctive bold, simple but elegant new house without the need for major building works and which relates in a more exciting and relevant way to the other individual buildings in the mews.

Architect: Studio 54 Architecture
Contractor: Fullers Builders
Contact: Charles Thomson - [email protected]

Photographs by Sarah Blee.

<p>Alison Brooks Architects has extended a nineteenth century house in north London with two tapered volumes that project into the garden. The first volume wraps around the brick walls at the side and rear of the house to create a home office, while the second volume extends out at the back to increase the size of the first floor living room. The extensions are part of an overall transformation of a classic Victorian semi-detached villa for a client involved in photography and design. The extension was designed as a series of large apertures framed and connected by large trapezoidal planes. These openings capture light throughout the day, draw the garden into the house, and frame precise views of a spectacular walnut tree. Each plane of the scheme is either fully glazed or fully solid, there are no punched windows. This approach creates an architecture without mass and weight. It is more like the folded surfaces of origami. Where the side and rear projections converge, seven surfaces come together at one point. To achieve the low profile of the ten-sided trapezoidal office extension, ABA lowered the existing basement and excavated a new sunken courtyard to form a street-facing office entrance. This new lower ground floor level connects workspace and house. On the garden side, the building rests lightly on the ground with undercut walls to avoid the walnut tree’s roots. Inside, the rooflight geometry funnels light into the workspace throughout the day. A roof terrace cuts into one of the roof, generating a light reflecting plane and heightening the sense of suspended surfaces.</p>

This is a new low-energy headquarters building designed within a ‘commercial green’ ethos. The studio building provides open plan office space for 150 engineers on two floors. A new brick reception wing mediates between the client’s current office, a 19th century coach house, and the larger studio building. The wing houses a double-height reception and exhibition area. In meeting its energy targets, the building will be the most energy efficient office in the UK.

This new development provides Ramboll with a unique facility at its headquarters campus in Southampton. The design balances a low energy approach with financial viability and is an exemplar in the application of a Commercial Green concept.

The brief was to produce a building that reflected the aims and values of the Ramboll organisation by providing high quality innovative and sustainable accomodation at a comparable cost to traditional office buildings. The massing of the new studios needed to be sensitively designed to compliment the existing brick buildings on the site.
The commercial Green approach developed by Ramboll minimises energy losses through the building fabric whilst ensuring a comfortable environment for those working in the building. The key was in the detail of the external envelope. This was super insulated, with the glazing optimised to ensure good natural light whilst minimising solar gain and glare at IT workstations.

The wall construction was developed with TRADA to provide a highly insulated robust breathing wall system. This construction permitted the use of horizontally banded windows that provide connectivity to the surrounding countryside.

At roof level thermal mass was enhanced through the use of appropriate lining boards.
Fresh air is introduced into the building via the plenum formed by the 290mm deep raised access floor. The air is supplied by low pressure fans drawing in through vents in the cladding and discharging into the office through swirl diffusers. The air is cooled or warmed by passing over an underfloor heating/cooling system integrated within the raised access floor.

Exposed thermal mass was an integral part of the building services design. At ground floor level this was achieved through having an exposed concrete ceiling. An extended structural grid of 9.6m was achieved by the innovative use of a pre-cast concrete soffit, an in-situ post tensioned concrete topping and tubular steel columns.

A flush inner face to the walls was achieved by using steel columns contained within the walls.

Set into a granite hillside overlooking the sea, this scheme of thirty seven new housing units and community buildings are arranged on existing natural contours. Efficient landscaped car parking courts for the whole site are designed on two levels at the foot of the site: one below ground and one at grade. Pedestrian routes through the site weave between residential buildings via existing vanells, steps and ramps between semi- public courtyards. Each house or apartment benefits from a small dedicated garden or balcony to complete the hierarchy of public, semi-public and private realms.

The site for this thirty seven dwelling residential development was in the ownership of The States of Guernsey. The existing dwellings were very low in density and had begun to prove too costly to maintain. The client sold the land to Guernsey Housing Association who wanted to redevelop the site with family homes of greater density.
The gradient of the site presented a series of challenges but its existing features of granite retaining walls and pedestrian routes suggested a series of pocket-developments, utilising these existing features and exploiting the many level changes across the site as a whole.

A key concern was to retain all parking at the lower end of the site, to enable a series of open amenity spaces and courtyards to be accommodated within the centre, around which the dwellings could face into. An ambition was to facilitate external play space for children to play within protected car-free spaces, overlooked by their homes.
The nature of the site’s topography lead to the development of some interesting typologies for the various dwellings, including a three storey model consisting of two split-level family homes, each with gardens.

The project received numerous awards including The Civic Trust’s Special Housing Award 2007, and RIBA Award 2007 and a RTPI Commendation 2008.

RIBA Regional Awards 2014 - Winner

The Sunday Times British Homes Awards 2014 - Winner

Blue Ribbon Awards 2014 - Self Build Home of the Year

We were approached by enlightened clients looking to unlock the potential of a backland site set in the rear half of an existing suburban garden in Surrey. Their brief was to create a contemporary five-bedroom house for 3 generations of family.

The design uses the irregular shape of the existing garden to tuck the proposed house into an unassuming triangular pocket to the side of the garden that maintains long views from the main house. The proposed house is orientated to minimise overlooking to/from an apartment development to the East and maximises afternoon and evening sun by being orientated West.

Our client’s ambition to have a relaxed, informal series of living spaces work well with the asymmetric volumes created. The strong physical connection to the garden aims to extend the calm modernism of the internal spaces out to the garden backdrop.

The asymmetric form also integrates a private south/west facing first floor balcony to the Main Bedroom and a large cantilevered section to create a covered external space to the entrance door. Recesses in the Eastern Elevation facing the adjoining housing estate allow openings within the façade that avoid overlooking, shaped and orientated towards mature oak trees oblique to the site. Natural light is then brought into the heart of the house though a number of triangular roof-lights over the main staircase and main bedroom dressing area.

The house is provided with level access from the street and conforms to Lifetime Home criteria. To allow future flexibility, the internal arrangement allows for the Ground Floor Snug space to be converted to a bedroom if required with the adjoining wc and shower providing accessible washing facilities.

The building fabric is formed from a bespoke steel frame design and highly insulated timber frame infill. An integrated Heat Recovery Ventilation System ensures the demand for internal space heating is kept to a minimum. Solar water panels fixed to the main roof provide most of the hot water demand and a fully integrated rainwater harvester buried in the garden contributes to cold water supply.

The palette of external materials of vertical batten Western Red Cedar and dark grey smooth render subtly blends the house into its surrounding environment. Internally the use of a dark American Walnut, polished concrete, complimented by an off-white wall finish and deep slate grey finish to bathroom areas gives the project a warm material richness. The glazing system is split between efficient casement units with bespoke larger units, including a Ground Floor triple sliding unit that slides into the external wall to create a completely clear 6.5metre open from the living space to the garden.

<p>A Grade B Listed building, situated in in the Conservation Area of Portobello, Edinburgh, the initial brief was for an extension. It quickly became clear however that an extension would do more harm than good, darkening the interior and limiting access to the garden. Instead we proposed to simplify the plan and create a new glazed corner to re-orientate the kitchen to the South and bring natural light into the house.</p><p>Working with the award winning structural engineers TALL we inserted a tiny 80mm steel post and a hidden steel beam with the stone cut with a lip over the steel edge and frameless glazing set flush to the walls and floor.</p><p>The glazing was carefully detailed to pick up existing joint lines in the stugged ashlar stone walls and set flush to the stone to accentuate the beauty and texture of the stonework. The glass also has a significant practical benefit of increasing the kitchen floor area by around 15%.</p><p>The existing garden access was removed and replaced with a small utility / drying space. All the walls were lined, insulated and draft proofed to current building regulation standards. This small scale intervention has turned a cold, dark kitchen into a central living space which the client claims has transformed their lives; all on a budget of less than £25,000.</p>

Extensive refurbishment and addition to a large family home in Ealing, an industrial aesthetic of concrete and steel coupled with luxury materials give this property a unique quality which fits the clients brief and lifestyle.

TFP were appointed to carry out parts of the major refurbishment of Wembley Arena.

The fundamental design change was handing the stage and main entrance to opposite ends of the building, with a new service yard at the rear and a new entrance at the front, now leading off Olympic Way. In addition, the Grade II Listed building has been fully refurbished internally and externally to reflect the original 1930s architecture.

We were specifically responsible for the refurbishment of all the external fabric, including new roof coverings, new plant, new doors and windows, and redecoration. Internally we designed the two main concourses and the public toilets with robust finishes to accommodate the large numbers of people who will use them. New catering kiosks and merchandising points have also been designed down the length of each concourse.

This significant refurbishment has totally transformed the venue, and successfully restored this great architectural piece to its former glory, whilst creating a spectacular 21st century icon.

Wembley Arena was chosen as a London 2012 Olympic venue to host Badminton.

AWARDS:

Concert Industry Awards 2007, ‘Best International Arena’
LDSA Built-In Quality Awards 2007, ‘Best Accessible Building’

Keltbray appointed TFP to refurbish St Andrew’s House, an existing four storey 1980s office building, to provide them with a new Headquarters.

The Client asked for a warm and inviting reception area, a clean minimalist feel to the open plan offices, and a richer more opulent look for the 3rd floor executive suites and Boardroom, along with an LA style sun terrace.

Along with these design requirements we suggested that the café should have a completely different feel to that of the main office spaces. With this in mind we added sculptured high gloss white panels lit with colour change light fittings along the main wall, a funky green carpet and a blue ceiling dotted with tiny LED light fittings which in the evening emulates a starry sky. The colours create a feeling of being outside and the combination of these elements give this space a different feel depending on what time of day you enter it.

Keltbray’s tenant, Yoplait, also appointed TFP to prepare plans to meet their requirements for their ground floor offices.

This thoughtfully designed new scheme of 57 Extra Care Apartments takes its way around the site, respecting the trees and landscape which border the stream. The main entrance is central to the site and scheme, taking the form of a 3 storey volume, divided by the lay of the land; enabling the creation of 2 separate entrances flanked by an elegant curved timber chimney which serves as a landmark.

The communal facilities are situated on the upper ground floor, close to the main entrance: here the dining room has panoramic views out across the stream; and the communal lounge offers a series of French doors that lead to a raised terrace and out to the landscaped gardens beyond.

Presenting itself as a low key, unimposing and vernacular development, the new scheme contains a series of design details: layering of rose and black coloured render; simple brickwork and timber cladding; recessed over sized windows peer through - whilst smaller ones protrude; tall windows lend a distinct sense of rhythm; the ease in which the building is navigated with central access way and amenity, and the pretty courtyard which sits behind the street façade.

AWARDS:

International Green Apple Awards for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage 2014 & 2013

We are delighted to have won the RIBA/LSC Sustainability Award for “a bold and refined revamp of a Victorian school”; and been Highly Commended in the overall RIBA/LSC Further Education Design Excellence Award for "an imaginative re-use of an existing building"; for the remodelling and refurbishment of Tower Hamlets College to form a new National Financial Skills Academy.

The key was to make use of the existing building, providing an excellent opportunity to bring back into use a local landmark building as a valuable resource to the local community and retain its embodied energy. The European Regional Development funding was only granted on the basis that a number of environmental outputs were achieved, namely water and energy conservation, energy efficient lighting and passive ventilation. All of these objectives were met; and many more.

The building fabric required overhauling, which resulted in a careful and considered schedule of external works repairs and the proposals to make the facility more ‘transparent’ were realised.

The main hall, which is locally Listed, is the real ‘jewel in the crown’, with an upper gallery space beautifully restored, renovated and refurbished. The main hall is used as a ‘call centre’ with work stations at ground floor level and gallery spaces on the first floor.

One of the challenges was to find a design solution to make the building DDA compliant and accessible. A comprehensive solution has been implemented, with a ramped access at the main entrance and a new passenger lift in the existing ‘lightwell’.

AWARDS:

International Green Apple Award for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage 2010
Selected for the ’50 Years of London Architecture’ Exhibition 2010
Winner of the RIBA / LSC FE Sustainability Award 2009
Highly Commended for the RIBA / LSC FE Design Excellence Award 2009

Inflite built a new terminal for their private jet service in preparation for the Olympics. This was designed to cope with the larger volume of passenger traffic expected and it was achieved by revamping and substantially increasing the size of their existing terminal whilst it remained in service. The terminal now has the capacity to handle 200 seat passenger planes whilst retaining the efficient, corporate, yet individual and personal nature of Inflite’s service.

The project involved the phased demolition, replacement and enlargement of the existing building, with internal improvement of the retained areas. We created larger, modern and more comfortable departure lounges, improved passenger processing and screening facilities, offices, a new operations room, and crew accommodation, lounges and a gym.

The Jet Centre is a transient space where passengers spend only moments in preparation for their flight and we wanted to make it as light and airy as possible. The idea that the whole building could be shrouded by a light mesh evolved from the need to provide shading and allowed flexibility for the shape of space that was needed within. The remodeling demanded a much larger footprint on ground floor than upper floors. Mesh panels within a slender steel structure were developed to give a sleek appearance that reflects Inflite’s engineering company roots.

The existing site entrance will be transformed by a prominent new gate feature with a banner sign that will clearly advertise the Jet Centre and by doing away with the existing Security Hut, passengers will drive and be met at the entrance by a receptionist; all-in-all a much more inviting greeting for arriving passengers

This unique, award-winning 62 bedroom Elderly and Dementia Care Home is situated in a key location on the edge of a new housing development at the head of a tree-lined boulevard. This urban linear park forms the main pedestrian and bridle path through the new housing development to the countryside beyond.

The dominating central timber framed archway, donned ‘The Grand Arch’, visually serves as an entry to the countryside from the new suburb. In earthy, heather-coloured render, the curving walls and distinctive tapering brickwork columns signal the public realm; internally this area houses the public facilities such as the Café, hydrotherapy pool, treatment and therapy rooms.

‘The Grand Arch’ separates the 2 wings which act as separate families on each level. To the rear they are linked with a 2 storey timber and glass structure, creating a private and secure landscaped courtyard which contrasts with the countryside around the site.

The building was officially opened by HRH The Countess of Wessex in January 2012.

“Anjulita Court presents an obviously impressive external appearance, incorporating innovative structural elements with an attractive pallet of materials and colours, but the attention to detail internally is of an even higher standard. The imaginative layout serves to flood all areas with natural light and provides excellent choices of communal space for residents to enjoy individually or together. The architects’ brief was to put aside the usual care home themes and they have successfully created something both visually striking and sympathetic to the needs of its residents”. Pinders Awards Judges’ citation.

AWARDS:

Regional Finalist, Civic Trust Awards 2012
Winner, Pinders Healthcare Design Awards 2010, ‘Elderly Care’
Excellence in Roofing Award 2010
Finalist, Housing Design Awards 2010, ‘Best Development for Housing our Ageing Population’

Walking up Cranes Lane in Basildon away from the tractor factory, past semi-detached houses, you enter an elliptical courtyard, sunlight playing on warm coloured brickwork, cream render and natural timber boarding. As the ground rises, the curved terraces close the space, and you then pass through a small gap into a country lane with views of the historic Holy Cross Church. This is New Cranes Court, a very low carbon development of 16 houses and 12 flats that replaces 1970’s hostel and foyer accommodation, the design of which attracted anti-social behaviour, due to poorly-defined public and private spaces. All the new family houses and ground floor flats now provide a safe environment with secure private gardens, and front entrances facing the new courtyards.

As an exemplar of eco-friendly place making, the development was certified to Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, with expected typical running costs for a 4 bedroom house of £6 per week for heating, lighting and hot water.

Swan were keen that Code Level 6 was achieved, but the planners refused solar panels due to the proximity to the Listed Church. High energy efficiency was achieved with triple glazing, highly insulated factory made timber frame panels, with larger windows facing south and efficient ventilation systems with energy recovery. To provide carbon neutral electricity and hot water to all homes a glycerol bio-fuelled combined heat and power plant was installed. Any surplus electricity can be returned to the grid. Low water use WCs and bathroom fittings reduce water demand, and flood reducing SUDS drainage is included. Sustainable materials were used throughout, and native plant species were planted to maintain local ecology.

AWARDS:

Winner, Sustain’ Awards 2013, ‘Development’
Winner, Sustainable Housing Awards 2012, ‘Sustainable Larger Housing Project of the Year’
International Green Apple Award for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage 2012

Previously split into two maisonettes, this five-storey Victorian terraced house has been reinstated as a single-family home with a stained glass studio on top.

A new internal structure and a basement stairs were installed, which enable a smooth connection between the newly formed open-plan spaces on the two lower floors. The kitchen-dining area, fitted with angled joinery, spills into the secluded landscaped garden at the rear via a new glazed aperture.

The original Victorian staircase serves the upper three floors to the bedrooms and studio. The stairs are propped by an exposed steel column which also supports the suspended timber shelves in the reception. Bespoke build-in ply joinery equips the studio.

The materials used throughout underline modernity working within the traditional context: the pre-cast concrete slabs pave the lower ground floor and the garden terrace, the engineered oak on the upper ground floor, and the reclaimed pine boards and rubber on the upper floors.

The planning permission for this project was granted from Camden Council with all minor objections successfully resolved in favor of the proposal.


Located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty outside the village of Beaminster, Dorset, the building is nestled in amongst picturesque green fields and pastures. When purchased in 2013, the core of the property, a modest cottage from 1751, had already been 'bookended' by significant extensions. Yet, despite its size and rural setting, half of it suffered from uncomfortably low internal ceilings and little or no views.

The goal was to retain more of the building fabric then to rebuild, yet carry out a significant improvement and update of both the building's form and its content. In doing so, an overall notion of a vernacular building was maintained. By 'hinging open' the existing 18th-century, west-facing roof slope, the additional internal height was achieved without raising the roof line. This newly-gained volume enabled a new bridge and a double-height volume in the centre of the building. Only a portion of the 1950-ex built 'bookend' was re-built. The new elements introduced use a simple, contemporary language; the continuous timber louvres, the large timber-framed glazed openings, the sharp, electricity-generating solar-slate-tiled roofs with hidden gutters, the suspended steel-framed bridge. The existing materials were retained and reused - timber, stone, slate - the new ones introduced strategically - wood-particle and PIR insulation, steel, glass.

The property is now a light-filled and spacious country home with ample internal volume and south-facing living quarters that embrace the magnificent views of the valley beyond.

This project is a reinvention of an unusual mews house located in North London. A land-locked amalgamation of three different two-storey, 19th century buildings, with no less than 7 challenging neighbours (including a Tesco store!), this end-of-mews house has been reworked into a light-filled and open family home for five.

The Local Council refused to grant permission to extend to the previous architect, yet the client was desperate for new space. This meant we had to find and 'eek out' any possible space from within and effect only minimal changes to the exterior elevations. The Council approved these easily.

Firstly, the stairs were relocated from the edge of the plan to its centre, whereby halving the amount of previously un-used circulation space. This space at first floor now works as a ‘Bridge’ between the two side wings and accommodates the family’s extensive library and a pleasant get-together space. On the ground floor, it provides a spacious entrance hall, connecting two large, open-plan spaces - the Living Room and the Kitchen/Dining - previously shared by a number of small, window-less spaces.

By opening up the originally unused loft spaces, not only was extra volume gained but also three mezzanines for three individual children's bedrooms. Claiming the forgotten passage at the rear of the property, glazing it over and incorporating into the Living Room, extended the room and brought in the soft, gallery-like daylight within.

Refurbishment of a late Victorian detached house in North London arranged on four floors. The outline brief was to refurbish this six bedroom detached house and to replace the existing two-storey timber and glass extension that looked onto a large rear garden facing north.

Refurbishment of the building, now known as the Eventim Apollo, included the installation of new fixtures and fittings, restoration of ornate plasterwork and historically sensitive decoration. In addition, multicoloured LED lighting was introduced, new bars with illuminated glass counters installed and all seating refurbished or replaced.

During the nine-week closure for renovation the team revealed a number of previously hidden features in the venue, including a uniquely patterned terrazzo floor, friezes by the artist Newbury Abbott Trent, decorative art deco glass and two marble staircases.

The refurbishment has enabled the building to house an increased seated and standing capacity. In 2014, Phase 3+ of the refurbishment addressed the public toilets, re-lighting the auditorium, works back of house plus external repairs.

The refurbishment has cemented the Apollo’s position as one of London’s largest premier music and comedy venues.

Our brief was to create a new versatile studio for a family living in a listed school building in the village of Kelvedon, Essex.

We developed a strong, modern vernacular design to complement the conservation area and existing historical building. It echoes the many traditional black painted barns in the area, whilst still enabling the interior space to be light-filled and contemporary.
The studio comprises of a double-height living/media area plus a separate exercise room and shower/WC. It also has a mezzanine for guest accommodation with a glass balustrade.

It has a timber-framed structure with a precast beam and polystyrene thermal block floor. Featuring a handmade clay tile roof, the studio is clad in black painted feather edge boarding on a blue engineering brick base.
Internal finishes are of a restrained palette of white painted walls, acoustic paneling and roof beams with European oak flooring. Included in the build is an underfloor heating system, programmable lighting and audiovisual equipment.

The rejuvenation of the building retains the original cellular layout of the former office building, with sensitive introduction of bathroom accommodation, lifts and kitchen services to create this 107 key 5 star Hotel. Principal rooms on the ground and first floors are devoted to lobby lounge, dining and function use, with a new spa at basement level and a garden terrace over former service yard areas.

The scope of the appointment included the main lobby, café bar, brasserie, cocktail bar, retail outlet, business centre and lounge areas; all defined by a large central bar that rises, lowers, curves and straightens as it adapts to suit the operational and aesthetic requirements of each space. A changing day to night ambience is achieved with a backlit glass feature wall that runs through the entire composition.

Fredericks is Islington’s longest established restaurant, operated by the Segal family since 1969. Mackenzie Wheeler has carried out many projects at Fredericks over the years in response to changing customer demands, most recently creating the new Club Room to operate as a private dining room, meeting room, party venue and extension to the existing bar and restaurant.

It is the most visible element of a much larger project to extend the basement kitchens, reorganised staff accommodation and created a new fish shop on the street frontage. A unique feature of the room is the leather panelled walls that incorporate back lit photographs taken by the celebrated music photographer, Jill Femanoskvi, that has added a new, stylish and youthful dimension to this long established Islington institution.

The client, Hall & Woodhouse Ltd, have been brewing beers on the site at Blandford St. Mary since the brewery was founded in 1777. The overall aim of the project is to provide a central office location for all departments of Hall & Woodhouse Ltd within one building.

The Old Maltings are part of the history and heritage of the company and the project seeks to retain and reveal as much of the original fabric of the building as is feasible. In order to achieve the client’s requirements it is proposed to redevelop the Old Maltings along with the adjacent stable block, creating a circulation tower which will join the two together & maintain the historical character of the buildings.

Our clients were living in a ground floor period mansion flat in Emperor’s Gate, South Kensington. When the one above and the one below came up for sale the opportunity to create one large bespoke family home was one they couldn’t pass up.

The vision was to seamlessly join the three floors together with a beautiful sculptural staircase and to transform the new top floor into a luxurious bedroom suite with balconies overlooking the square below. Small courtyards in the basement act as light wells and allow their young children a space to play outdoors.

The challenge was to reconfigure the internal structure of all three floors and link them to create a comfortable three story family home.

The building has been transformed into a unique family dwelling, combining contemporary architectural features whilst enhancing the property’s period pedigree. The interiors have been lovingly restored and enhanced with one-off pieces sourced from around the world and the finest fixtures and fittings throughout.

Dyer Grimes Architects created a stunning centre point to the house bringing the three floors together via a generous atrium and sculptural feature staircase. Our designs provided views and light to the centre of the plan, linking the generous living room at ground floor with the open plan kitchen and dining room, and courtyard spaces in the basement.

The basement makes use of a new polished concrete floor which reflects the light which pours in from the elegant Crittal doors to the courtyards. The concrete makes a great conductor for underfloor heating - which gently warms the home. The original brickwork has been exposed and white washed to provide texture to the space. A designer kitchen has also been installed with an island unit made of a beautiful charcoal coloured stone with visible fossils.

The feature staircase is inspired by Bauhaus movement, with a slender metal handrail and balustrade with glazed infill panels. The staircase was manufactured in the Netherlands and shipped over - one of the large windows on the ground floor had to be removed to install the stair.

Hanging beside the staircase are a series of unique light fittings sourced and shipped directly from a designer in New York. The lights are linked to a Lutron lighting system that allows them to be controlled from a smart phone.

The living room on the ground floor has been enlarged and opens onto the staircase. The front facing windows have new motorised blinds concealed within the window panelling, whilst a new fire place has been installed with rough brickwork echoing the basement.

The first floor has been transformed into a luxurious master bedroom suite with a bespoke dressing room, designer bathroom, sitting room and a roof terrace – true 6 star luxury. The 14ft ceiling heights have been maintained and provide a fantastic feeling of space. High quality bespoke joinery has been installed with a fully fitted dressing room and two ingenuous cabinets in the master suite sitting room which are disguised as a panelled wall but open to reveal a mini bar and useful storage.

Crittal doors are used to link the bedroom with the ensuite and the sitting room.

In the ensuite bathroom, a Tadelakt render, antiqued mirrors and stone tiles made by Italian craftsmen from lava stone mined in Denmark work together to create a stunning room.

The main aim of this refurbishment was to convert a dreary terrace house to a light, spacious family home. While planning restrictions prohibited alterations to the traditional Victorian façade, what lies behind is an entirely modern intervention. The interior was stripped out and the basement extended and underpinned to create an open-plan living area and kitchen, with a striking double-height void flooding the lower level with light. The elegant ‘floating’ stairs, which connect the basement to the ground floor via a seamless transparent glass bridge and balustrade, and wall-to-wall concealed storage bestow exciting, contemporary edges on everyday functional features.

Refurbishment of a Victorian house over looking the North Sea, in Aldeburgh, Soffolk.
This projects sought to create a light and open environment, and enhance the feeling of connection with it's location.

The site for this house is in an exceptional location with views to surrounding mountain ranges. It sits on a distinctive rocky outcrop above Alta Lake, which gives the project its name. Our competition proposal sought to reconcile several contradictions – expansive views and living spaces whilst maintaining a sense of intimacy, maximising inhabitable area whilst maintaining an understated appearance from public view.

The project comprises a main residence, guest house and outdoor pool within a series of landscaped levels cut into and built out of the rock.

Through sensitive site analysis, the proposed residence acts as an extension of the existing landscape.

Our clients for this project already lived in a beautifully-converted car-assembly factory in Regent’s Park Conservation Area, when they bought a neighbouring property and asked us to assist in creating a scheme to join the two buildings to create a single, larger house.

The adjacent property was smaller than the original house and had very different storey heights. To make a virtue of what was otherwise a challenging condition, we proposed opening up the lower two floors of the new property, making a double-height space with a mezzanine level. This creates a generous and unusual space, with a study overlooking the living area that connects the two properties.

The mezzanine is conceived as a piece of furniture inserted into this new, large volume, and is accessed by a compact staircase built into a wall that also incorporates storage and a small WC. The stair also leads down to a new wine cellar in the basement.

The proposal includes for a fully-automated lighting, heating, audio-visual and security control system.

This new contemporary house in the Oxfordshire countryside is designed to provide supremely comfortable accommodation on the site of former agricultural and storage buildings. The new house and adjoining live/work units are expected to be certified to the German Passivhaus low energy standard which requires energy use to be reduced to a realistic minimum whilst remaining warm inside, even in the middle of winter.

This approach to house design is usually chosen by discerning clients for its low running costs, continuous fresh air and even internal temperatures. However, at Oakleywood, the remote site location was also a key reason for adopting Passivhaus. The electricity supply to the site has proved to be unreliable in the past, and repairs have taken a long time to fix.

Even without heating, a Passivhaus will maintain a relatively stable temperature inside if there is a power cut, and if electricity is required a small on-site temporary generator is all that will be needed.

The main house faces west across an open field, optimising heat gain from the sun. Approaching the house from the south, the visitor passes through a series of external and internal spaces of varying spatial character, culminating in the dramatic double height main living space. To the north of the house, the live/work units provide working space and accommodation and form a series of enclosed courtyards.

A comprehensive reworking of a family home in Chiswick, including bespoke furniture and fittings design

This is a family house in Holland Park that we have refurbished for the second time in ten years.

A Georgian townhouse has been remodelled and refurbished internally; and a new Pavilion has been constructed to the end of the long garden. Sitting beneath a large London Plane, the pavillion creates a small retreat for entertainment and relaxation in a tranquil garden setting.

A new build fishing house on the River Test in Hampshire. Traditional construction methods including green oak frame, hand made bricks, roof tiles and charred timber cladding were brought together to form a contemporary reinterpretation of a rural barn. The house sits in the grounds of a listed Manor House and is designed in context to reflect the hierarchy of the adjacent structures whilst also picking up on the local vernacular of details and materials of the hamlet at large. The house is run using sustainable natural resources including ground source heat pump, rainwater harvesting and recycling, solar and photovoltaic cells.

Situated just off High St Kensington, the brief for this house was to provide a rich balance of materiality between old and new, whilst providing practical living spaces for a young growing family.

The lower levels have a crisp and contemporary feel with the use of large format travertine slabs and expansive glazing creating a strong connection with external spaces.

A more luxurious feel occupies the upper bedroom floors with the master suite utilising contrasting marbles and high gloss lacquer finishes to create and opulent Art Deco inspired interior.

The brief was to create a spacious home with room for each family member. Light was needed in the basement kitchen so S+T created a double height space and allowed light to flood the basement. This, along with moving the stairs, opened up the whole of the lower ground floor. Upstairs, S+T created a luxurious dressing room. The house was previously owned by Martin Amis and S+T also renovated his garden writing space.

Studio Octopi won the Delfina Foundation project through an invited competition organised by Nous Collaborative. Originally located at 29 Catherine Place in an Edwardian townhouse in Victoria, the Foundation has expanded into the adjacent building, giving it a combined area total of 4,564 square feet.

The £1.4m redevelopment has increased the number of residents at one time from four to eight, as well as creating 1,650 square feet of additional exhibition and event space.

Adhering to one of the core concepts of the Foundation’s history as a provider of ‘homes’ for artists, we have retained the domesticity of the two houses, exploring the significance of the hearth in a home. Across cultures and throughout history, the hearth has been an integral part of a household, becoming synonymous with notions of domesticity, and placemaking. Fireplaces are kept in their entirety on the lower floors, and the recesses and hearth stones are retained in the artists’ private spaces.
The designs also set out to maintain the juxtaposition of public and private spaces. The introduction of glazed panels in the floors and walls allow for their integration. Diagonal views across the buildings and through the floors expose the Foundation’s ecosystem at work, as well as opening up the two buildings and bringing in more light throughout the space. With flexible artist workspaces throughout, the five-storey property boasts an expansive gallery / workshop space on the lower ground floor; reception, dining area and kitchen on the ground level; offices and library on the first, whilst the residents’ quarters occupy the two top floors.

Adopting the role of architect cum archaeologists, we have created an environment which is unassuming, layered and contextual, while peeling back the layers of ornamentation and finish to expose the period craftsmanship of the buildings. New insertions are made with a light and considered touch, while detailing is discrete and at times whimsical. Brickwork to the reveals of the new openings is left exposed and overhead concrete lintels retained in their natural state. By leaving materials in their raw state, a reminder of the building’s beginnings is introduced. A sense of permanence is imbued in the two townhouses, linking the present with the past and consequently looking ahead into the building’s exciting future.

The house had been extensively modified in the 1980s and suffered from a fragmented plan, poor connectivity between the principal living spaces and restrictive ceiling heights.

The design sought to recapture and preserve the original proportions of the Georgian terrace building, whilst reinterpreting the layout to suit modern family living.

A 10m high glass infill extension between the closet wing and the neighbouring property, divided as two sash windows, forms a double height living room at basement level and a master ensuite at first floor. An open tread stair allows views to stretch from the basement across the double height space to the first floor.

The closet wing was extended in brick to match the existing; this enabled the upper floors to be remodelled with increased head height and improved visual connectivity with the main house. The upper closet wing windows take reference from the adjoining property; at ground floor the window stretches down to the basement echoing the double height space behind.

A polished concrete floor in the basement extends out to the garden where a planted green wall allows maximum use of the terrace for entertaining. The refurbished and extended house is 250sqm, with 30sqm of outdoor space.

The dream was to build an ultra-contemporary, modernist villa in the heart of leafy Surrey on the secluded site of an existing pre-fab bungalow – a bold design statement, far removed from the pitched roof architecture of the area.

Dyer Grimes Architects was briefed to design a highly sustainable contemporary home of 480m2, designed for easy living and entertaining. The owners wanted to push the boundaries of contemporary design to create an iconic home they could be proud of.

The cantilevered design of the house creates the illusion that the structure is hovering effortlessly in mid-air above its own reflection in the glass-ended swimming pool below. This combines, to stunning effect, with extensive glazing throughout which draws the surrounding landscape into the house and maximizes views from the first floor of the Surrey Hills beyond.

Arranged around a generous entrance hall, the main living spaces comprise of large sliding walls which disappear into pockets to allow the living, dining and reception rooms to become one open plan space perfect for hosting parties.

The clever structural design and innovative construction methods incorporate slender steel columns, high performance glazing and an advanced insulated render system. It is enhanced by intricate detailing including a shadow gap wrapping around the building between ground and first floor levels, stained hardwood panels to complement the crisp white render, and a feature glass and timber stair.

Sustainability and low maintenance was also integral to the brief. White Lodge provides 12% of its energy usage from renewable sources.

This ground-floor extension in one of the desirable Alphabet Streets in Fulham was designed to create a bigger family space for new generations of grandchildren. The highly-bespoke design merges the interior with the garden, to give the impression of a seamless link between the inside and outside spaces, achieved with a structural-free corner and floor-to-ceiling glass, giving a unique panorama of the garden.

Renovations and extensive additions to a terraced house in the heart of Fulham. The artist owner wanted to maximise the light and space in the house and a large double-height kitchen with a dramatic mezzanine study achieved this. With a design fully exploiting the full planning potential through a rear and side extension, the house features two luxurious bedroom suites which both have custom designed walk-in wardrobes, dressing rooms and large ensuite bathrooms. The furniture and fittings chosen by our in-house interior designer were selected to suit the personal tastes of the client. The garden was landscaped by our garden designer who installed a living wall, which we expect to be in full bloom this spring.

Refurbishment and extension of a family home in Fulham. Excavation of a full-length and generously proportioned basement allowed space for a living room and a gym, with walk-on glass providing natural light into these subterranean areas. Bespoke full-height bookshelves and furniture chosen by our in-house interior designer complete the contemporary library and reading room. The four-bedroom property also features a master suite, complete with bespoke walk-in wardrobe and luxurious en-suite bathroom.

New build 250 sqm family eco house on a site in Kensington with planning and access difficulties. Large basement leisure area wrapped around a courtyard with fishpond and waterfall. Featuring a wellness suite, dance floor and movie room. Many contemporary technologies and features. As seen on Grand Designs.

This Victorian villa has been brought back from a dilapidated state and reinvented to create modern family accommodation. The main body of the House has been sensitively refurbished and the numerous extensions to the north have been either demolished or altered to rationalise the plan and create a new principal entrance. The key feature is the double-height entrance hall that looks over a newly excavated courtyard which provides a spacious approach as well as vehicular parking. The space is lined with a continuous rubble bath stone wall that penetrates through a glass screen to form an internal first floor gallery linking inside with outside.

Occupying an enviable south facing location this dilapidated villa had been haphazardly extended to the north and west and had lain empty for several years. The clients' desire was to sensitively restore the core Victorian portion of the property to its former glory and rationalise the mishmash of peripheral outbuildings and lean-to structures through a combination of demolition, alteration and new construction to create a long-term home for their young family.

The key concept was to excavate the rear north-facing garden and move the entrance to this side of the house. This would create a front courtyard to receive vehicles and visitors whilst allowing the elegant south façade and garden to become a private sanctuary for the family. The removal of the top garden would also afford the opportunity to introduce daylight into the north of the property and provide level access from the highway, both of which it lacked previously. The architectural response was to line the new external space with a continuous rubble bath stone wall that wrapped around the courtyard and continued into the house to form a first floor gallery within a newly constructed entrance hall, literally bringing the outside inside.

The double-height volume of this space performs three key roles; to provide a link between the original house, the retained side extension to the west and the new roof terrace created over the existing garage; to allow natural light to penetrate deep into the centre of the plan, expelling the previous dark corridors; and to mark the new entrance in a modern and distinguished manner and signify the rejuvenation of the house.

The rubble stone from the demolished structures was utilised in the new and modified extensions to maintain continuity with the original villa, whilst timber sash windows were reused in new openings in the historic fabric. The new rear extension is clad with slow grown Western Red Cedar boards that are also used on the new garage door and the retained outhouses containing the plant room. Where elements of the existing house have been renewed, and in the construction of the new extensions, the opportunity has been taken to improve the thermal performance in excess of the current requirements of the Building Regulations.

Unusually for a building of this age and significance, The Fosse was not listed and planning consent was not required for the works to the house as all previous additions were pre-1948 meaning that the alterations could be carried out under Permitted Development. However, a planning application was made for the dig of the new courtyard, owing to the engineered nature of the necessary contiguous piling and retaining wall structures.

The finished building is now fit for purpose and can be enjoyed by the family in the years to come.

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