British houses

Subterms

    Latest story

    100 Shares199 Views

    PL Studio applies Moroccan-inspired palette to London townhouse

    by

    Interior design office PL Studio has transformed an east London townhouse using colours and graphics that take cues from the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh.

    The three-storey, new-build house features similar shades of blue, green and yellow to the Morrocan villa that was once home to artist Jacques Majorelle.
    The home’s colour palette draws from the Jardin Majorelle in MarrakeshFurther green tones allude to the villa’s verdant garden, while soft pink hues bring a sense of overall “warmth and joy” to the palette.
    PL Studio designed the scheme for creative couple Tom Lalande and Julian-Pascal Saadi, who live in the house with their chihuahua puppy, Sasha-Lee.
    A green shade was applied to the main bedroomThe studio founders, couple Sabrina Panizza and Aude Lerin, felt the design should reflect their clients’ love of colour.

    “Although we admired the architecture and loved how the townhouse was beautifully filled with natural light, we felt that overall, the property was lacking character and positivity,” said the pair.
    “We wanted to create a home that reflected our clients’ personalities and joyful spirit, a home filled with positive energy.”
    The reception room features cobalt blue walls and arch graphicsLalande and Saadi had recently returned from a trip to Marrakesh, which led this to becoming the starting point for the design.
    The reference is most evident in a reception room at the house’s entrance, which features cobalt blue walls, a colour-block rug, plants and a Tom Dixon Etch pendant light in gold-toned brass.
    The arch graphics feature on both walls and doorwaysThe effect is heightened by paint graphics that include arched openings – both real and illusionary – and stepped blocks that create the suggestion of extra staircases.
    As Saadi works as a psychologist, this room primarily serves as a waiting room for his clients.
    Picture-frame-style graphics provide a backdrop to the dining tableThe couple’s main living space occupies the uppermost floor, where an L-shaped room gives the pair a combined kitchen, dining area and lounge.
    Geometric wall graphics tie these three spaces together but also highlight the divides between them. The most striking of these is a triptych of picture-frame-style blocks that frame the dining table.

    Familien Kvistad brings colour to 1950s house in Oslo

    “Our clients didn’t have a clear idea of what they wanted, but they had a strong desire to be surrounded by pieces of art, colours and objects that would give them good energy, which is so powerful,” said Panizza and Lerin.
    “They were not afraid of mixing different shades and colour combinations, so we went for bright, bold, and fearless!”
    A guest bedroom features a striped ceiling akin to a market stall awningThe main bedroom, located on the middle floor, uses subtly different shades of green to create colour depth. This is offset with monochrome stripes and pops of pink and blue.
    Also on this floor is a guest bedroom that doubles as a dressing room, featuring a striped ceiling that looks like a market stall awning and a pink bathroom framed by black linear details.
    Arches feature throughout these spaces, in the form of mirrors and wardrobes as well as wall graphics.
    A pink bathroom is framed by black linear detailsSaadi’s ground-floor office takes the place of a third bedroom. This room has a different character from the rest of the house, with details inspired by surrealist art.
    Key features include a sculptural table in the shape of a hand and ceiling wallpaper depicting a cloudy sky.
    A ground-floor office takes cues from surrealist art. Photo is by Aude LerinPanizza hopes the “kaleidoscopic” project can serve to inspire people who see London’s new-build homes as characterless compared with the city’s older properties.
    “We want to show it is absolutely possible to create a home with lots of personality and character. It just takes a bit of courage,” she told Dezeen.
    The photography is by Taran Wilkhu unless otherwise indicated. Top image is by Aude Lerin

    Read more: More

    More stories

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Rooms

      Wood and stone surfaces bring “rich texture” to Primrose Hill House interior

      by

      Architecture for London has updated a 1960s house in London, creating an open-plan interior filled with natural materials and an improved connection to the rear courtyard garden.

      The house is one of two detached properties set in a modernist estate in Primrose Hill that primarily consists of painted brick courtyard houses and small terraces.
      Primrose Hill House was designed by Architecture for LondonThe new owner asked Architecture for London to transform the interior into a modern layout that is better suited to their lifestyle.
      “The house had a very broken plan consisting of lots of small rooms,” the studio’s director Ben Ridley told Dezeen. “The client wanted to create a family house that was more open plan with better views of the garden.”
      The studio added a rooftop extension clad in white bricksThe remodelled interior improves the connection with the garden by incorporating a large picture window in the kitchen, along with sliding wood-framed doors in the living area.

      The ground floor also contains a smaller reception area next to the entrance hall, with folding doors allowing this space to be separated from the kitchen and dining area.
      Sliding wood-framed doors open the living room up to the gardenA bespoke blackened-steel staircase provides access to four bedrooms on the first floor, including a main suite with a juliet balcony overlooking the garden.
      Following a detailed cost and sustainability review, a decision was made to demolish all of the property’s interior walls and rebuild them in order to achieve the required spaces.
      The interior was finished in a rich material paletteThis solution also offered the best energy-efficiency potential, according to Ridley, with a layer of wall insulation added alongside a heat recovery ventilation system (MVHR).
      The home’s first-floor plate was replaced using steel beams and timber joists to enable the demolition of the ground-floor walls and the opening up of the interior.
      Flooring was used to define different zonesspThe project also involved the addition of a timber-framed rooftop extension, clad with white-painted brick to tie in with the rest of the house and set back so it’s largely hidden from view.
      The extension contains a flexible mezzanine space for yoga and meditation that is accessed from the main bedroom suite.

      Architecture for London uses natural materials to renovate studio founder’s home

      Throughout the home, Architecture for London applied a pared-back palette of natural materials that is intended to create a sense of calmness and connection with the garden.
      Internal walls treated with breathable lime plaster provide a neutral backdrop for furniture including a dining table made from locally sourced London plane trees.
      Doors and windows are framed with wood”We intentionally didn’t use a lot of colour so there’s a strong feeling of consistency,” Ridley said. “The choice of stone and timber brings a rich texture to the palette.”
      A reference image of a Portuguese manor house, featuring a tiled trompe l’oeil frieze around a doorway, informed the use of materials to define space within the interior.
      The shared living areas have an open-plan layoutIn the living room, stone floor tiles in different shades create a border around the room, as if an area rug has been placed on the floor to demarcate where furniture could be placed.
      Ben Ridley founded Architecture for London in 2009 following his studies at London’s Barlett School of Architecture. The studio aims to create places that improve how people live and work, with a focus on reducing their operational emissions.
      Wood lines the interior walls of the homeRidley’s own London house recently featured in our round-up of five UK house renovations designed to improve energy efficiency.
      “Ultimately we are going to have to accept some changes in the appearance of our traditional homes,” he said, speaking to Dezeen as part of a feature on architects who have retrofitted their own homes.
      The photography is by Christian Brailey.

      Read more: More

    • 113 Shares169 Views

      in Rooms

      Neil Dusheiko transforms London fashion showroom into light-filled home

      by

      Architect Neil Dusheiko has converted a showroom in west London into a bright, contemporary residence designed to meet the changing needs of its elderly owners.

      Nicknamed Danish Mews House for its minimalist Scandinavian furnishings, the home is tucked away in a quiet mews lane in the Lancaster Gate area.
      The mews house was once a showroom for the owner’s fashion companyAlthough in recent years the current owners repurposed the building as a showroom and warehouse for their clothing company, it was originally built as a Georgian coach house for storing horse-drawn carriages.
      Dusheiko’s primary concerns when converting the property into a home were bringing in more light, as well as making sure that the interior could support its inhabitants as they grow older.
      The main kitchen and sitting room are on the first floorFor this purpose, the house was fitted with a guest bedroom, kitchenette and toilet on the ground floor, which could ultimately be used by the inhabitants themselves in case their mobility becomes restricted.

      A lift was installed to provide easy access to the upper floors of the house, which can also be reached via a central staircase.
      Glazing in the stairwell brings light into the living spacesIn the stairwell, a newly installed skylight and a wall of gridded glazing on the first-floor landing allow sunlight to seep into the interior.
      Behind the glass partition lies a sitting room and a kitchen with oatmeal-coloured cabinetry as well as a small dining area.
      Light leaks in from a skylight at the top of the stairwell. Photo by Rachael SmithBoth here and throughout the rest of the home, several of the furnishings were sourced from well-known Danish design brands including Carl Hansen, Louis Poulsen and Montana.
      The second floor is illuminated by six new dormer windows and accommodates another two bedrooms plus their respective en-suite bathrooms.

      Neil Dusheiko creates home for his father-in-law featuring a wall of ceramics and glassware

      The principal bedroom is largely clad in wood, save for a section on the rear wall that is finished in chintzy floral wallpaper.
      Glazed doors with black metal frames run along one side of the room and can be slid open to access a sun terrace lined in Douglas fir battens.
      Floral wallpaper features in the principal bedroom. Photo by Rachael SmithThe space is decorated with a couple of folding director’s chairs and a built-in white-brick planter.
      Danish Mews House is one of several residential projects that Neil Dusheiko has completed in London.
      The room also has its own sun terrace. Photo by Rachael SmithPreviously, the architect created a home for his father-in-law in Stoke Newington, in which a striking wall of shelving is used to display ceramics and glassware.
      Dusheiko also overhauled a home in Hammersmith, introducing a curved brick extension and a cinema room.
      The photography is by Ståle Eriksen unless stated otherwise.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Neil Dusheiko ArchitectsStructural engineer: Price and MyersContractor: ABC LimitedQuantity surveyor: White and Lloyd

      Read more: More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      Lost House by David Adjaye features black interiors and bedroom with a pool

      by

      Black walls, built-in raw concrete furniture and a fish pond in a lightwell define Lost House, a residential project designed by David Adjaye in London’s King’s Cross, which has recently come on the market.Royal Gold Medal-winner Adjaye, the founder of Adjaye Associates, designed Lost House in 2004.

      Top: the swimming pool. Above: a central lightwell holds a fish pond
      The house has come back on the market recently, granting an opportunity to see the interiors of one of the architect’s early residential works in detail.

      Original features have been preserved, including an all-green sunken cinema room and a water gardens in planted courtyards that double as lightwells.

      A courtyard garden in a lightwell
      Hidden behind an unassuming brick facade in an alleyway, Lost House was formerly a delivery yard complete with a loading platform.
      Adjaye Associates turned the concrete loading platform into a plinth for an upper-level swimming pool with black-painted sides next to the pink-walled main bedroom.

      The ground floor is an open plan living space
      On the ground floor, there is a large open plan living, dining and kitchen area with a double-height ceiling.
      The sunken conversation pit with a cinema room-style projector, complete with zesty lime walls, built-in bookshelves and wide sofas, is off to one side.

      Raw concrete countertops are part of the kitchen
      Three tall, glass-walled lightwells stretch up to the black-painted timber eaves of the roof, bringing natural daylight down into the room instead of windows.
      In the centre of the living area is a lightwell filled with a fishpond.

      A sunken conversation pit is entirely bright green
      The square courtyards in the lightwells are planted with tropical greenery. At the back, next to the kitchen, the courtyard features wooden decking around clusters of circular concrete benches inset with the same grey pebbles that surround them.
      The black chipboard walls, ceiling and exposed timber beams are reflected in the shiny black resin floor.

      Concrete benches in the courtyard garden
      Adding to the industrial look are the thick concrete elements of the built-in kitchen, which forms a continuous countertop and splashback.

      Ten key projects by RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner David Adjaye

      A concrete element continues from the kitchen to the living area, were it forms a low bench upholstered in black leather cushions.

      Black walls and floors around the pool and bathroom
      Steps lead to the raised ground floor, where the old loading bay plinth supports the lap pool. Black stone tiles surround the pool, which is part of the master bathroom for the main bedroom.
      Two stone sinks sit on a concrete shelf below mirrored cabinets. A wet-room style shower allows the residents to wash before and after swimming.

      The master bedroom is entirely pink
      This bathroom connects directly to the back of the master suite, which has a separate toilet and a long corridor connecting to the stairs. The bedroom is decorated all pink to contrast with the ink-black interiors
      A second bedroom is located on this floor, with a third bedroom located up on the first floor that is currently being used as a home office.

      An upstairs room is a work from home office
      David Adjaye founded Adjaye Associates in 2000 and began his career designing high-end residential projects in north London such as Lost House. Other notable all-black houses by the studio include Dirty House and Sunken House.
      Photography is courtesy of United Kingdom Sotheby’s International Realty.

      Read more: More

    • 163 Shares139 Views

      Grove Park house by O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has wooden lining and verdant views

      by

      O’Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has created ash-lined living spaces with expansive windows inside a gardener’s home in Lewisham, southeast London. Grove Park is an end-of-terrace house that was originally built back in the 1980s. The wood-lined rooms that O’Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has created are on the home’s ground floor, which was extended by incorporating a small […] More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      2LG Studio enlivens Louisville Road house in London with bright hues

      by

      In a colourful overhaul of this period house in Tooting, south London, 2LG Studio has added dusky pink walls, blue tilework and coral-orange cabinetry. Louisville Road house falls under the Heaver Estate conservation area – a series of period properties that were constructed between 1888 and 1910 in south London’s Balham and Tooting neighbourhoods. The […] More

    • 138 Shares109 Views

      in Rooms

      Daytrip digs beneath east London townhouse to create contemporary living spaces

      by

      White-washed walls, Douglas fir joinery and creamy furnishings appear inside this east London home, which design studio Daytrip has renovated and expanded by excavating its basement. The five-storey Powerscroft Road townhouse is situated in the neighbourhood of Clapton and had previously been host to several “unloved” living spaces. A majority of the rooms were plastered […] More

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Rooms

      Hemp is used on the inside and out of Cambridgeshire's Flat House

      by

      Practice Architecture worked alongside hemp farmers to erect this zero carbon home in Cambridgeshire, England, from pre-fabricated panels in just two days. Flat House is located on Margent Farm, a 53-acre farming facility in rural Cambridgeshire that aims to show off the capabilities of hemp – a fast-growing strain of the cannabis plant. Hemp is […] More