HARRY’S HOUSE

An extensive loft conversion completely reconfigures a Balham maisonette

SW12

Located next-door to our “Balham Loft Apartment” project, this is our second iteration on Balham Park Road in Wandsworth. New client, new brief, and new ideas mean that this version has a very different feel and resolution to the previous scheme.

The key concept of moving the living spaces to the new loft level remained. The maisonette has a wonderful sense of progression as you move up to the top floor, which is flooded in light and benefitting from a dual aspect to the front and rear. Strip rooflights at the top of the stairs and above the living space allow direct sunlight to make its way across the walls throughout the day.

The loft level works harder on this project, providing a kitchen and dining space towards the front, and a more separate feeling living space at the rear. A desk nook and bar area are squeezed in between the two, and integrated but simple joinery including benches and storage cupboards have a consistency across the space, with a painted datum level stitching it all together.

The kitchen and dining area is arranged around dormer windows and rooflights to maximise the efficiency of the space. The dining table is tucked below a Velux rooflight in the low point of the main roof, with an integrated bench seat tucked into a nook. The kitchen sink benefits from full height and views within a rear dormer. The materiality of the space works around a series of oak elements, incorporated profiled finishes to provide texture, alongside stainless steel and colour blocked cabinetry.

The dramatic open staircase of the original project has been swapped out for an enclosed stair to prioritise acoustic separation and flexibility in a busy home. The sense of enclosure is embraced with the warm timber detailing and dark painted colour scheme, with sensuous top lighting from the rooflight above.

 The living space opens out directly onto the roof terrace at the rear, with views across from the cut-out original Victorian roof towards the trees separating the house from the railway line beyond.

The detailing of the balustrade is a contemporary counterpoint to the original Victorian staircase below. Slender oak balusters draw on the proportions of the turned originals and the oak detailing provides a crisp legibility of the staircase geometry. The maisonette literally turns a corner from the traditional detailing at first floor level up to the contemporary detailing within the loft living space.

EXISTING FIRST FLOOR PLAN

The first floor of the home houses a dedicated home office space, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, the interiors of which span both contemporary and traditional aesthetics. Original features such as door ironmongery and joinery were retained to maintain the sense of place and feeling of the original home. As with most of our work, the project endeavoured to retain the joy of the traditional alongside some more expansive contemporary ideas.

Photographs by Chris Snook