Innovative terrace houses project in United Kingdom
Design competition - British Home Awards 2018
A design competition for a terrace house project in the United Kingdom. The main scope of the competition was to design an innovative terrace house for the future. We would welcome to provide more details and a developed project to whom is interested in this innovative and modern design.
The project preserved the relationship between the building and the green space all around, with the purpose to maintain the environmental harmony typical of the terrace house developments. Taking account of all that the brief entailed, this proposal is based on a “module” of double the given plot size. This approach allows to generate vertical and horizontal connections on different levels. The module consists of two units, then two lots of 5 by 20 meters. Each lot spans a dimension of 13 meters with 7 meters designated for a rear garden: a relationship derived from the traditional terrace house model with a subsequent rear extension. The use of a double module allows greater freedom of design and identification of various layouts adapted to various needs. The positioning of the transversal staircase permits greater freedom of internal distribution and greater flexibility in the division of units into flats, duplexes, studios, and/or houses with double-height spaces.
This project has been shorlisted for the British Home Awards 2018 and published on the Sunday Time.
“Here is the terrace, deconstructed. Max Strano and Claudio Inserra, of Bureau69, a niche Italian architecture outfit that opened in London last year, paired two terraced homes to create a “double module” with a pitched roof. They then broke this down into three elements — base, house, and shell — and shifted them around to create the pronounced asymmetrical shape of the Shell.
The ground-floor base comprises covered parking and a flat that could house an elderly parent or nanny, or be used as an office. Stretching over two or three storeys above is the living space, with stairs down to the garden from the open-plan kitchen/living space on the first floor. Wrapped around it all is an aluminum shell — with gaps to let in sunlight — creating a partly shaded terrace next to the two second-floor bedrooms and shielding residents from being overlooked.
An air-to-water heat pump takes care of heating, cooling, and hot water; insulation includes cork and straw. Built mostly in a factory, with only the foundations, floor plate, roof and finishes constructed on-site”.
DESIGN STATEMENT
Life is evolving into a specular dichotomy of time: fast-paced time saturated with the use of technologies in our day-to-day work, emphasising the importance of rest and relax in our private lives at home.
The house returns to the forefront in pursuit of its own well-being. It upholds – in its present and future state – a return to the concept of place of aggregation and privilege. Wide and versatile spaces devote themselves to the optimisation of function that change as living conditions change; that expand or retract as the family unit changes. The purchase of a home may often take place in single status; then, after a family, the number of occupants increases, rarely with a need to host the parent or both elderly parents.
CONCEPT
The objective of the project is not to alter the relationship between built volume and green space, but to maintain the environmental harmony typical of the terrace house developments. Taking account of all that the brief entailed, this proposal is based on a “module” of double the given plot size. This approach allows to generate vertical and horizontal connection on different levels.
The module consists of two units, then two lots of 5 by 20 metres. Each lot spans a dimension of 13 metres with 7 metres designated for a rear garden: a relationship derived from the traditional terrace house model with a subsequent rear extension. The use of a double module allows greater freedom of design and identification of various layouts adapted to various needs. The positioning of the transversal staircase permits greater freedom of internal distribution and greater flexibility in the division of units into flats, duplexes, studios and/or houses with double-height spaces.
FEATURES
The proposal for this terrace house project is based on three elements that relate to each other and define the project:
a) A “base” that defines the imprinting of the traditional terrace house, conceived in traditional materials such as brick (but can also be adapted with a covering in more modern materials or stone). From street level, there is access to a “self-sufficient” multifunctional unit, either for disabled [total compliance with M4(2) BR] or elderly people (e.g. parents) or as a home working space. From this unit, you have exclusive access to the back garden. On the same level, a separate staircase provides access to the upper floors. On the first floor, the base is completed by a longitudinal element which is replicated for each plot, returning to the “rhythm” of the original module.
b) The “home” is conceived by adaptable materials according to local and environmental requirements. The house is designed on two levels with an open space on the first floor (living + kitchen) and an area with bedrooms on the second floor (two large double bedrooms, one with an en-suite bathroom).
c) The “shell” that protects the house, characterising the project aesthetically, also denotes the limits of the possible extension. A 2500mm module with a self-supporting metal structure and total thermal insulation, houses all the technological systems. Structurally, the shell is supported by the “party walls” and is stabilised by a mutual connection between the single elements and the shells of adjacent units, creating a unique structure in its entirety. In addition, the shell is composed of three different elements: a solid element, an element with apertures on the roof (to allow the entry of sunlight), and an element with vertical “shielding” that defines the terrace and offers a wider field of view.
The privacy between the residential units is maintained throughout.
CONCLUSION
Aesthetically, the shell can be treated externally with different materials (our proposal is based on high-strength materials such as aluminium) and internally with recycled wood to withstand environmental humidity and rain. Thanks to the specific locations of the elements described above, at variable heights, the units have open spaces and terraces at different exposures.
Are you interested in this terrace house project? we are happy to discuss the opportunity to make this real!
