Framework House Studio McW

Framework House Studio McW

HOUSES•LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Architects: Studio McW

Area : 172 m²

Year : 2020

Photographs :Rory Gardiner

Manufacturers :  panoramah!®, Havwoods, Hexagon, Poggenpohl

Structural Engineering : Blue Engineering

Design Team : Greg Walton, David McGahon?

Joinery : Hexagon

City : London

Country : United Kingdom

An significant renovation of a terraced property in Clapham, London, including a concrete frame addition has been finished by Studio McW. For a family leaving an apartment who wanted to keep a sense of lateral living, Framework House was created. In order to assist in its purchase and improve the remodel, Studio McW sourced the property and collaborated with the clients.

According to the customers' requirements, the house had to be beautiful, practical, and have a flexible floor plan for living, entertaining, and working from home. Their desire to live in a home that blends fluidity and rigidity with natural materials served as the inspiration for the interior's concrete, steel, and wood color scheme. The existing, thermally improved shell, as well as the additional windows and roof lights located in the loft and back additions, provide each with plenty of natural light.

With the dining in the front and the living in the back, joined by a central open kitchen, Studio McW inverted the layout of a conventional terraced ground floor plan to suit the lateral living brief. With a smooth transition from entering and eating to relaxing after meals, the resulting ground floor plan makes entertaining simple. The largest portion of the plan is made use of by a living room in the back, creating a bright, spacious area that opens up to the sizable courtyard garden. A wall of expansive matte white cabinetry connects the dining room to the modern Poggenpohl kitchen, which is located within the bay.

Two bedrooms and a bathroom are located in the existing volume up a concrete stairway next to the kitchen, and an office is located in a dual-aspect addition. There is a visual connection between the levels thanks to a hole in the office floor that views back into the living room. The main bedroom suite and bathroom on the upper floor have bespoke joinery throughout that carries the tactility introduced elsewhere.

An artistic concrete framework unites the old and the modern by repairing damaged portions of the house, creating thoughtfully designed new volumes on the ground floor, and creating spectacular voids that rise through the property. The warmth of the herringbone wood floors, custom joinery, and matte black metalwork contrast with the skeletal structure's exposed, unfinished state. By exposing the sturdy and long-lasting concrete frame of the building, praising the raw materials and unique shapes it offers, the objective was to celebrate and highlight the new structural components.

Recognizing the negative environmental effects of concrete construction, Studio McW sought to reduce the amount of extraneous building materials and finishing touches. They also dedicated wall and ceiling infill to hide unsightly elements like insulation, cabling, and pipes. We were able to lessen the waste generated during the structure's formation by cleaning up and reusing some of the concrete formwork.

Studio McW extended the aesthetic and functional potential of the materials by selecting a sophisticated palette. In order to create a thorough frame that "demonstrates what can be achieved with good detailing requirements that contain minutiae that can go ignored," the practice worked with a contractor who had never worked with concrete before.

The monolithic concrete stair was created by Studio McW to rise next to the home's new brutalist frame, which is top-lit by overhead glass. The first-floor landing was built on-site while the staircase was installed in three precast components. Cranes were used to bring in the off-site components.

A space that appears straightforward but actually filled with hidden features and plenty of storage thanks to the exact joinery, stairs, metalwork, exposed structure, and intersecting volumes. The client's current needs are excellently met by the clarity and fluid spatial flow of the contemporary scheme, which also offers a floor plan that is flexible enough to accommodate any future adjustments that may be required.

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