This revamp of a family home in west London features a loft extension covered in scale-like wooden shingles, yellow-framed arch windows, and interiors that use colour to separate spaces for adults and children.
Architects Catrina Stewart and Hugh McEwen of Office S&M were asked to oversee the improvements to a Victorian terraced house in Ealing, which the owners wanted to modernise to provide better accommodation for their three young daughters.
The main interventions to the project – called Valetta House – are an infill side extension that allows for a spacious living area on the ground floor, and an extension on the second floor that contains an additional bedroom.
"Essentially, we gutted the top and bottom of the house and left the middle largely alone," Stewart told Dezeen. "The initial concept was to have a space upstairs for the children and a more pared-back space downstairs for the adults."
经过改建的阁楼现在包含一间卧室和浴室,第二间卧室位于延伸部分,外立面用雪松木瓦覆盖。
窗户结合了附近很多维多利亚时代建筑的风格,参考拱形框格窗户嵌入端墙的做法。
The converted loft now contains a bedroom and bathroom, with a second bedroom housed in an extension which is clad externally in cedar shingles.
Windows incorporated into the end wall reference arched sash windows found in Victorian properties around the neighbourhood.
建筑师通过镜像这些窗户的拱形形状,为瓦片形状带来了灵感。这些木制瓷砖未经处理,所以会逐渐变成灰色。
窗框的颜色选用鲜明的黄色,优化了业主在项目早期阶段为厨房选择的灯具。颜色也避免了它与天气的碰撞。
The architects came up with the shape for the shingles by mirroring the arched form of these windows. These wooden tiles are left untreated, so will gradually face to grey.
The window frames are painted a vivid yellow, complementing a light fitting that the client picked for the kitchen at an early stage in the project. The colour also avoids clashing with the wood as it weathers.
The interior features numerous decorative details designed to appeal to the children, including curved walls, a multicoloured bannister and arched windows for each child.
"We tried to create lots of little moments that the children know about because they live in the house all the time, but other people might not be aware of," added Stewart.
S&M工作室指定的“俏皮的蛇和梯子栏杆”扶手的大理石端盖,与青色墙壁和楼梯踏板的颜色相互补充。
Office S&M specified marble end caps for the handrail of the "playful snakes-and-ladders bannister", which complement the teal-coloured walls and stair treads.
A rich and varied material palette adds sophisticated touches to the more grown-up areas on the ground floor.
The entrance hall features patterned encaustic floor tiles, while glazed herringbone tiles are applied along the kitchen wall. Fabric banquettes and plywood finger pulls on the cabinets introduce further colour and texture.
The material palette was chosen to differentiate spaces and make the most of natural light entering through new openings including a skylight above the stairwell.
Office S&M's founders both graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture in 2011. Stewart's final project was a conceptual proposal for urban housing that uses methane gas released by excrement from public toilets to generate electricity.
Prior to founding their own studio, both partners worked for other firms. Stewart spent time at CRAB and Quay2c, while McEwen worked at Nissen Adams, Metropolitan Workshop, FAT and PTE.
Photography is by French & Tye.