It was both time to soar ship or to reinvent their north London townhouse. Immediately after approximately 40 decades of residing underneath the similar leaky roof, Russell Vandyk and Alan Martin Day, both of those retired, daringly selected the latter. The pair employed Studio Ben Allen to increase a two-story extension onto the back again of their terraced Victorian. The ask arrived with a bonus every style and design crew longs for: they had been inspired, claims Allen, to “use the challenge as a testbed for concepts.”
In response, the architects, led by Allen and Omar Ghazal, took the opportunity to “push the boundaries of off-website fabrication, something we felt was lacking in modest-scale residential projects.” Especially, they used prefabricated pigmented concrete on equally the exterior and inside, as structural components that are also decorative many thanks to Studio Allen’s daring use of coloration and curves. The addition now houses a double-top new skylit kitchen with a mezzanine that connects to the existing key stair and potential customers to a pretty unforgettable new bathtub. And there’s additional: Vandyk and Day in essence received an totally new property that even now retains highlights of the original—and has acquired a good deal of appreciation from the United kingdom structure group. Dubbed The Home Recast, the rework was named “best new home advancement project” of 2021 in the NLA’s annual “Don’t Go, Increase!” contest. Sign up for us for a tour.
Photography by French + Tye, courtesy of Studio Ben Allen.
“There utilised to be a smaller galley kitchen with only just one window and a dining desk squidged up in opposition to it, and the garden was just a scrappy bit of land,” Vandyk informed The Fashionable Dwelling. “It’s not as if we have been indifferent or sloppy,” added Day. “The home just wasn’t really at the heart of our universe. When we ended up youthful, we experienced distinctive priorities. A lot of our lifetime was outdoor. Now, it’s about home comforts.”
Of late, there is been a lot of concern in the design environment about the significant-carbon value of manufacturing concrete. Eco-friendlier versions—aka “green concrete”—are now surfacing, but Allen suggests that this task regrettably predated the recent dialogue.
Previously mentioned: A different archway connects the dining home to the entrance corridor. The door in the qualifications prospects to the dwelling space. Never Go, Boost! decide Tom Foxall commented on the venture: “It is not just an extension it is a route by the creating and spatially really attention-grabbing. It will work unbelievably nicely architecturally,”
The layout was influenced by architect Omar Ghazal’s Jordanian heritage, and by Middle Japanese references in Victorian architecture, these kinds of as at Leighton Home, the Holland Park home of painter Sir Frederic Leighton.
“Alan’s argument was, if we restrict them, we’re not heading to end up with just about anything incredibly exciting,” Vandyk commented to The Contemporary Property. Added Day: “There was a pretty near collaboration in the consultations, but we never challenged anything…We’re so delighted that we did not begin tutting and indicating no…We have the emotion of rootedness mainly because we’ve been below because 1980, and nevertheless something so imaginative has been performed.” For more, enjoy the NLA’s Never Transfer, Make improvements to! online video on the job.
Three extra encouraged townhouse makeovers: