Project posted by WILLIAM TOZER Associates

Soupçon Brut

Year
2015
2015
Structure
House (Single Residence)
Style
Modern
The modern lower-ground floor connects to the rest of the house via an open-riser timber staircase with clear glass balustrade.
The modern lower-ground floor connects to the rest of the house via an open-riser timber staircase with clear glass balustrade.
Living and dining spaces are open-plan to the kitchen and courtyard, all of which share a continuous, tiled floor finish.
Living and dining spaces are open-plan to the kitchen and courtyard, all of which share a continuous, tiled floor finish.
The modern intervention is articulated as a clean cut into the original building fabric, into which a sleeve of modern architecture is inserted.
The modern intervention is articulated as a clean cut into the original building fabric, into which a sleeve of modern architecture is inserted.
The raw concrete finish to the courtyard references the materiality of the brutalist architecture to the adjoining site.
The raw concrete finish to the courtyard references the materiality of the brutalist architecture to the adjoining site.
Art objects to the interior are framed by voids in the white-painted sculptural volumes of the architectural composition, and this gesture is repeated at a larger scale on the rear elevation to present the adjacent brutalist building in the same way.
Art objects to the interior are framed by voids in the white-painted sculptural volumes of the architectural composition, and this gesture is repeated at a larger scale on the rear elevation to present the adjacent brutalist building in the same way.
Strategic alterations to the upper floors are conceived as fragments of the extensive alterations below, sharing spatial and formal characteristics, including materiality.
Strategic alterations to the upper floors are conceived as fragments of the extensive alterations below, sharing spatial and formal characteristics, including materiality.

Details

Square Feet
2100
Bedrooms
4
4
Full Baths
2
2
Partial Baths
2

Credits

Builder
DG Interiors

From WILLIAM TOZER Associates

The project is a modern alteration to a Victorian-era, Italianate-style terrace house in London, the delicateness of which sits in distinct contrast to the a neighboring, brutalist council estate by Austin-Smith, Salmon and Lord, built in 1965. The renovation creates a white and raw concrete frame through which to view the neighboring building, visually recasting it as a found-object modern art installation, alongside art objects to the interior that are similarly framed by rectilinear white openings at a much smaller scale.

The tiled floor surface is continuous from the open-plan kitchen and dining spaces to the adjacent courtyard dining area, diminishing the threshold between inside and outside. This blurring of interior and exterior is heightened by the rectilinear form and scale of the cast concrete retaining walls to the courtyard, which connects them visually to the monolithic white cupboards and units to the contiguous interior.