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Project posted by WILLIAM TOZER Associates

Proun House

View 13 Photos
Location
England, United Kingdom
Year
2017
Structure
House (Single Residence)
Style
Modern
The composition of four boxes bookending the top and bottom of the original house is most evident looking at the building from the courtyard garden.
The composition of four boxes bookending the top and bottom of the original house is most evident looking at the building from the courtyard garden.
The architectural composition is continuous from inside to outside, and between new and original architectural elements.
The architectural composition is continuous from inside to outside, and between new and original architectural elements.
Interior elements, such as the kitchen cabinets, are articulated as rectilinear volumes or planes—each finished in a single material.
Interior elements, such as the kitchen cabinets, are articulated as rectilinear volumes or planes—each finished in a single material.
Original elements, such as the staircase between the ground and first floors, were retained and treated as found objects to be viewed through the frame of the new architecture.
Original elements, such as the staircase between the ground and first floors, were retained and treated as found objects to be viewed through the frame of the new architecture.
The view from the front door allows the rear bedroom to the modern first floor to be seen together with the rear extension to the ground floor, of which it is architecturally a satellite component.
The view from the front door allows the rear bedroom to the modern first floor to be seen together with the rear extension to the ground floor, of which it is architecturally a satellite component.
The frameless window of the rear first-floor bedroom presents the neighboring original building stock as if it were a painting or photograph on the wall.
The frameless window of the rear first-floor bedroom presents the neighboring original building stock as if it were a painting or photograph on the wall.
The interior volumes and planes are variously finished with a white paint finish or timber paneling.
The interior volumes and planes are variously finished with a white paint finish or timber paneling.
Like the lower staircase, the original brick party wall is retained and treated as a found object, here viewed through the frame of timber-paneled architectural volumes.
Like the lower staircase, the original brick party wall is retained and treated as a found object, here viewed through the frame of timber-paneled architectural volumes.
The new staircase to the top floor is finished in the same material as the original staircase below, but detailed as a modern array of small rectilinear volumes, reminiscent of a Donald Judd ‘Stack’ installation.
The new staircase to the top floor is finished in the same material as the original staircase below, but detailed as a modern array of small rectilinear volumes, reminiscent of a Donald Judd ‘Stack’ installation.
The design is articulated as a single composition of rectilinear volumes and planes that are distributed through the horizontal and vertical space of the site and original building.
The design is articulated as a single composition of rectilinear volumes and planes that are distributed through the horizontal and vertical space of the site and original building.
The design is articulated as a single composition of rectilinear volumes and planes that are distributed through the horizontal and vertical space of the site and original building.
The design is articulated as a single composition of rectilinear volumes and planes that are distributed through the horizontal and vertical space of the site and original building.
The material palette references the traditional use of slate and white-painted render in London terrace houses, but both materials are shifted in scale and distribution to support the modern composition.
The material palette references the traditional use of slate and white-painted render in London terrace houses, but both materials are shifted in scale and distribution to support the modern composition.

Details

Square Feet
1500
Bedrooms
4
Full Baths
1
Partial Baths
1

Credits

Posted by
Architect
Builder
K&W Building Services Ltd
Photographer

From WILLIAM TOZER Associates

This house for a pop musician and his growing family is the result of the extension and complete renovation of a three-storey terrace house. Externally, the design is composed of four stacked boxes—two white and interlocking to the ground floor, and two slate-clad and closely nestled on the second floor. All the boxes are incised by rectilinear glazed openings to their walls and roofs—and matching openings were made to the original building envelope. This compositional strategy continues on the interior, where walls and cupboards are articulated as white or timber-clad rectilinear volumes and planes. While the intensity of the architectural composition is greatest at the rear of the ground floor, the same design strategy is deployed at varying intensities throughout the rest of the house. This spatial scattering of a single compositional strategy recalls the ‘Proun’ work of the early twentieth-century artist El Lissitzky.