Emerging from lockdown: As the construction sites start up again, we are looking forward to another new-start on site in July this year: our remodelling and extension of a 1980s bungalow in Cromer, north Norfolk.

Set on a sloping site close to the top of the ridge over-looking the town, the existing H-plan, pattern-book home was built on the only flat part of the site where there used to be a tennis court. The building was not designed to maximise the qualities of the site and fails to capture the views of the sea to the north or the woods to the south. Our design flips the living and sleeping accommodation and comprises a series of contemporary, site-specific domestic interventions. The extension takes the form of a cranked plan around an over-sized flint, chimney. In the landscape, tiered, flint planting beds help retain the land whilst extending the language of the new extension up and down the slope to form dedicated garden areas for external amenity.

#cromer #norfolk #houseextension #hayhurstandco #house #architecture #norfolkarchitecture

Emerging from lockdown: As the construction industry begins to get back on its feet, we are looking forward to seeing a number of new projects start on site in the coming months. Green House – a new 5-bedroomed family home in Haringey for a photographer and a teacher – is almost there. Located in a conservation area, the design draws on the green, heavily-wooded backland character of the site and re-interprets the traditional greenhouse as a model of domestic space.
The new home is constructed from cross-laminated timber (CLT) and incorporates planting within a deep polycarbonate elevation to the front of the house. In the centre of the home is a two-storey, glazed atrium that contains the dining space around which curtains can be either fully drawn or – quite theatrically – partially drawn to provide different levels of privacy, openers and acoustic absorbance between different domestic activities. At the first floor the atrium provides a gallery on all four sides from which to access the bedrooms, bathroom and utility space. All the bedrooms look out on to the mature trees that surround the site.

#newhome #haringey #greenhouse #hayhurstandco #greenfacade #familyhome #londonarchitecture #newhouse #architecture #plantsofinstagram #architectsonpaper

On site: Following this weeks site visit we have been looking back at photographs of earlier site visits of the façade before the school was occupied.

These photos are from mid-December when the façade was nearing completion and the mature trees that surround the site at their most bare. The photos reveal the granular and filigree relationship between the branches of the trees and the metal structure and ribbing of the perforated aluminium façade. The light falls off some of the structure in the same way that if falls of the trunk and branches of the trees and helps blur the point where the building ends and the trees takeover.

Photos: @kilianosullivan #edithneville #edithnevilleprimaryschool #hayhurstandco #schooldesign #trees #treesofinstagram #architecture #londonarchitecture #facade #cadisch

On site: We did our first, socially-distanced, site visit for the external works at our new-build Edith Neville Primary School in Central Somers Town yesterday.
The boundary steelwork is up! This will form the new southern boundary to the school site on to the new public realm that will firm a new public open space connecting two urban parks.
The profile of the southern boundary steps down from the parapet of the 2-storey building to 1.8m high. It provides visual protection to external learning spaces at ground and first floor spaces and includes larger openings which align with new trees and key views from the school to the public realm. We are looking forward to completion as lockdown eases.
The project was part of a wider collaborative masterplan of projects that will we undertook with @dsdha_architecture @drmmarchitects_studio @moco_arch @adamkhanarch and will be the subject of @architecturefoundation 100 day studio on Tuesday 16th June.
#edithneville #edithnevilleprimaryschool #hayhurstandco #schooldesign #londonarchitecture #architecture #spacesforlearning #100daystudio

Grain House: Looking at the outside of the house and how the timber detail extends form the inside of the house to the outside.

Externally, the roof of the extension is finished in treated sycamore slats clad over a standing seam copper roof with the walls clad in burnt larch – extending the use of locally-sourced timbers that compliment the interior. The form of the extension is conceived as a timber sculpture as it follows the opening up and closing down of spaces internally and appears as an organic and arboreal against the boxiness of the Victorian house.

In detail, the timber slats in the roof extend over the copper so as to reveal their edges and create an ‘eye-lid’ over the picture window from the dining-space that light can fall through. The detail is designed to extend the depth of the window as a threshold between inside and out: projecting the grain of the timbers out into the garden whilst bringing the grain of the garden back into the dining space.
Photo: @kilianosullivan Table: @sebastiancoxltd #hayhurstandco #grainhouse #hackney #houseextension #londonarchitecture #londoninterior #sebastiancox #wood #woodwork #limeplaster #picturewindow #windowseat #sycamore #larch #elevation

Grain House: Some more photos of our recently completed project in Hackney.

Internally, the palette of materials includes a variety of natural finishes that are designed to age well. Native timber species were sourced in the UK from sustainably managed forests and processed by small timber yards in Wiltshire and Sussex. The project includes walnut, oak, and ash all used in their natural state with imperfections and variety in colour left to be expressed. A number of different species were combined together to form the distinctive kitchen that was made by @sebastiancoxltd in his workshop in Woolwich: it includes walnut carcasses and drawers suspended in an English ash frame.

The project also include natural lime plasters, manufactured in the UK, a surface finish that has less embodied carbon than gypsum-based products. Together, the use of lime plaster and timber were sourced to age with the property so that they mature over time, providing a rich texture of patinated finishes.
Photo: @kilianosullivan #hayhurstandco #grainhouse #hackney #houseextension #londonarchitecture #londoninterior #sebastiancox #wood #woodwork #limeplaster