| |
The Red House
London
This London town house was commissioned by our client as a place in which to live
and work, initially as a single young man and eventually with a family.
The selected street in Chelsea, is a conservation area, which was developed
in the late 19th Century and became a celebrated creative quarter at the
turn of the century, becoming immortalised in Mark Girourard's book 'Sweetness
and Light'. The project is an attempt to reconcile a new London house type
within a heritage site, by drawing on the arrangement of existing classic
buildings in the street to arrive at truly unique design which sustains
the urbanity and culture of its location. The building was proposed as a replacement of two existing 1950's neo-vernacular cottages on a site, which overlooks Wrens Royal Hospital and Westminster Cathedral beyond. Existing planning consents gave preference to a single new house; subsequently our application for the house was positively supported by English Heritage. The house is a new construction, made of reinforced concrete and clad with an insulating rain screen of sumptuous French red limestone, punctuated with windows made of bronze drawn on to timber.
The entrance to the house is set back from the street façade, which features a sliding red stone door into the garage on the ground floor. The project included a complex interior, which was designed in partnership with Studio Mark Pimlott, to invite use without delineating purpose.
The design is radical and highly unique and offers a bold statement whilst complementing the existing urban fabric of this conservation area.
Status: Completed 2001
Interiors: Studio Mark Pimlott
Awards: RIBA Award 2003, Manser Prize 2003 (shortlist), European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture 2003 (shortlist), Stone federation of Great Britain Natural Stone Award 2002
Download project information