THE BARNES BRICK HOUSE

Contemporary reconfiguration of a terraced cottage

SW13

Longlisted for the 2020 Don't Move, Improve! competition

YARD Architects first met Nathalie and Alex at a Don’t Move, Improve! consultation run by the NLA at their annual exhibition of the best new domestic residential architecture in London. They were looking for a creative reinvention of the house they had just bought, and the proposals took the house back to its bare bones and started afresh.

The process started with the side and rear extensions, housing the new kitchen dining space. Pale handmade brickwork was used internally and externally, paired with exposed rafters and steelwork to create a stripped back industrial aesthetic that allows the space to flow from inside to outside.

A new staircase runs through the centre of the house, constructed simply using unlined softwood with exposed soffits and timber boarded balustrades. A curved oak handrail provides a soft ergonomic counterpoint, with raw brass rods adding space and detail to the composition. Pivot doors fold back in the hallway to reveal the stepped sequence of spaces from front to back of the house, offering direct views from the front door to the rear garden.

EXISTING GROUND FLOOR PLAN

COMPLETED GROUND FLOOR PLAN

A new loft conversion provides an additional guest bedroom and bathroom. Stripped of linings to the ceiling, the exposed rafters and steelwork add a sense of volume to an otherwise low space – conceived as having a distinct loft aesthetic, with refined elements such as the oak veneered wardrobes and bespoke CNC routed bedhead offering softer notes to the space.