New house, nominated for an Ealing Civic Design Award 2011

​

This three bedroom town house is located in the local poet’s corner which is an attractive residential tree-lined area in Acton. It occupies the full width of a c.160m2 plot that was a disused car park to the flats adjacent, which are housed inside a tall three storey Victorian building on the east flank. This contrasts with twinned 1970′s two-storey pitched gable houses to the west which have a similar plot size, also running full width but with a deeper plan leaving less garden.

​

To maximise garden and internal space, this house is on three floors with flat roofs but the overall height is virtually the same, forming a link in levels between the roofline of its neighbours. Neither neighbour has great claim to architectural merit and contrast with the houses on the opposite side of the road and opposite southeast corner.

 

Not the most auspicious corner of poet’s corner… For these reasons and for a reasonable response in the 21st century it was hard to find an argument to justify duplicating anything that was there. A previous application had been vociferously resisted by the neighbours and turned down by the planners, largely on the grounds of bulk and light infringement, although nobody enjoyed the wasteland that the site had become.

​

The challenge here was to try to address these issues with sensitivity to the neighbours’ concerns as well as produce a worthwhile design. By reducing the footprint and with a vertically tapering profile, each floor being progressively narrower at higher levels, there was significant improvement in the light to gardens behind and adjacent properties, distancing the upper storeys from the site boundaries.

​

The plan idea was for two containing blocks each side of the site with a central spacial and visible flow and penetration right through to the rear of the walled garden, maximising the small space available to be enjoyed from many varied aspects. Client requirements for containment here and there on the ground floor meant that this flow was reduced somewhat in the build.

​

The front entrance and top front-facing balcony with views to the south over London both have a brise-soleil, the front entrance with a brise-pleuvoir glazed panel to maintain filtered sunlight but keep out the rain. This is tilted back towards the house into an internal gully to avoid a run-off waterfall over those arriving.

​

The entire site is surrounded by walled garden, with the exception of the electronic gate at the front, giving exterior privacy to the front south-facing garden as well as the rear. The curved bay window was preferred to having direct access to the front garden via french doors.