RO-009_CAMBERWELL
Incisions: Complete house transformation & loft conversion
(Text Quotes: We managed to expose the inherent generous space available within the existing envelope without adding any cubic meters… In opposition to many conversions where the sledgehammer demolishes great parts of the house, I like to think of this project as more like the scalpel works in precision surgery with well-placed minimal cuts to great effect.
We have radically transformed the house to make it work for our family and work life while adamant to keep its original details and its character. The house is in a beautiful Camberwell conservation area and a compulsory purchase in the 70s allowed the council to build a small housing estate behind the terraces reducing the garden to half its size.
While we were keen to live more open plan and to brighten the house up we were always clear that we don’t want to extend the house as the valuable outdoor space was already quite restricted.
This is probably the greatest distinction to all other domestic projects we are working on, that we managed to expose the inherent generous space available within the existing envelope without adding any cubic meters.
The 4 bedroom property was built in 1897 and features the typical narrow and deep terraced house floor layout with a quite dark area in the middle of the ground floor. All main bedrooms and reception rooms had a nice proportion, light and feel to it. We decided to bring light down to the ground and cut a narrow triple height space into the annex and replaced the 1st floor hallway floor and later the ceiling to the loft area with metal grid. The new scheme created a distinguished hub in the centre which serves the whole house. The kitchen is the block in the middle where you hang out and cook together (great for parties too), the bathroom has internal windows and views without compromising privacy, which allow more borrowed light to reach the depth of the house and features a bathtub, where you can watch the clouds and planes pass by.
The translucent screen between shower and hall gives you a blurred shadowy outline, an insider joke and reference to our student day hero Rem Koolhaas, who masterly quoted his (and our) idol’s sculpture in the pool of the Barcelona Pavilion of Mies van der Rohe.
Photos: Fisher Hart / RecOrt