6a Architects creates shiny dwelling areas in revamp of century-old Coastal Home
London studio 6a Architects has renovated a seaside home in Devon, England, reworking its previous darkish rooms into shiny, tactile dwelling areas.
Coastal Home was shortlisted for the RIBA Home of the Yr award in 2018, after 6a Architects fully remodeled its inside.
The challenge noticed the studio fully strip the constructing naked and fully redesign its ground plan. The brand new structure options grand double-height rooms organised across the previous chimney stacks.
Nevertheless externally the constructing was stored very conventional, in an effort to retain its authentic kind and character. The partitions have been reclad the home in Cornish slate, and the one trace of change is offered by a brand new oak veranda.
“Sustaining the character of the comparatively modest exterior was an necessary a part of the transient, while inside, an entire reconfiguration of the inner volumes,” defined the design staff.
“New timber stairs and balconies wind across the previous chimney cores to create double-height rooms and triple-height, top-lit hallways, which afford visible and bodily connections between the inner areas, in addition to connections between the inside of the home and the panorama,” they added.
The home initially had 4 chimney cores, however 6a Architects eliminated one in all them. It was this that made it potential to open up the plan.
One other change made by within the renovation was the decreasing of the bottom ground, which was initially raised on a plinth within the basement.
Changed with a concrete slab lined with underfloor heating, it now sits consistent with the encircling panorama. This created rooms with extra beneficiant top, in addition to bigger home windows, which means extra mild penetrates the inside.
To help the constructing’s construction, a brand new framework of air-dried oak beams was launched, spanning the prevailing stone partitions. Tapered columns present further help.
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On the coronary heart of the brand new inside, there may be now a grand, triple-height hallway with a picket staircase, lit by a skylight and surrounded by balconies.
That is framed by characterful, spindle-shaped balusters, that are manufactured from oak and splayed at two completely different angles for rigidity.
Giant doorways create visible connections between dwelling areas. These rooms additionally boast minimal, muted finishes. Whitewashed stone partitions and window shutters kind the backdrop to hanging lights, together with minimal picket chairs and pale blue sofas.
Board-marked concrete traces lots of the openings, to echo the timber particulars all through the home.
The unique particulars of Coastal Home will not be forgotten, as the prevailing masonry reveals clues of its earlier kind. Alongside the previous fireplaces that sit as wall recesses, previous joist helps now operate as low-level cabinets.
The architects have additionally made the constructing extra sustainable. It’s newly wrapped with 200 millimetres of wooden fibre insulation and reclaimed slate cladding, whereas photo voltaic thermal panels on the roof contribute to the constructing’s heating system.
6a Architects was based by Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald in 2001.
Different lately accomplished initiatives by the studio embrace a geometrical silver extension to a gallery in Milton Keynes, timber-clad pupil halls on the College of Cambridge’s Churchill Faculty and a concrete pictures studio for Juergen Teller.
Images is by Johan Dehlin.
Mission credit:
Architects: 6a Architects
Structural engineers: Value & Myers
M&E engineers: Ritchie+Daffin
Panorama: Dan Pearson
QS: Gleeds
Contractor: JE Stacey