MEWS HOUSES . MARYLEBONE
Reconfiguration and refurbishment of two distinctive mews houses in the Dorset Square Conservation Area of Marylebone. Largely unaltered for a number of years, they provide an opportunity to work with two neighbouring buildings with very different characters. The Client's brief - maximise potential, capital and rental values, carefully balanced with enhancing their particular architectural qualities. The older house, with its unique open plan stairwell rising through three storeys, featured in the press when first built in the 1970's. The second house has an extensive pre-existing basement. The addition of natural light and ventilation will transform the environment - an additional flexible bedroom suite with a relationship to outside. In the early stages of Feasibility and Planning, the Client's brief is to examine: - Planning opportunities for extending residential space. - enhancements to current spatial arrangements. - options to reconfigure existing layouts to establish their most effective use. - maximising natural light to improve the living environment. - including improvements to benefit capital and rental values. The client has now commissioned wcjw for a further concept study and planning application for a 5 storey house in Kentish Town - internal reconfiguration of the ground and lower ground floors in conjunction with a two storey extension and an additional storey at roof level - again to maximise rental and capital values.
REMODEL . 1920's MANSION FLAT
To meet the needs of a client relocating from the US, the brief was to reconfigure this St John’s Wood apartment to maximise the feeling of space - within the context of a typical Manhattan apartment. The building's frame construction enabled demolition of 90% of the existing partitions – and replacement with a completely new flexible layout, capable of being reconfigured from two to four bedrooms by a series of sliding and folding walls. The interior was opened up to make the most of long views across the apartment and beyond towards Parliament Hill and the wider cityscape. Contemporary in nature, key areas of the interior have been lent an Art Deco twist, in acknowledgement of the building's inter-war origins.
IMAGES include other projects undertaken in Westminster. These include: - reconfiguration and refurbishment of 1950's apartment in Marylebone. - proposed refurbishment of a 1960's apartment building: Luxborough Tower, Marylebone. - new apartment building in Mansfield Mews, Westminster (pre-wcjw).
