Dartmouth Park House

Single Family Dwelling
Location: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area, London
Construction Cost: Undisclosed
Completion: July 2016

Winner RIBA London Award 2018
Shortlisted RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize 2018 (for best building built under £1million)
Longlisted RIBA House of the Year 2018

Located in the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area, this project significantly remodels and extends an end-of-terrace Victorian building. It creates a contemporary, airy and bright single family home. The RIBA Awards jury praised the building as ‘a very successful reinvention of the Victorian house’ and ‘an unusual and exotic home’. For the jury’s full commentary, please visit this link.

 

 

 

The design enhances the original features of the building and improves areas that had been poorly altered over time. The street elevation takes a shopfront character while the extension of the rear of the house includes two terraces and a sunken courtyard.

Daylight has been central to the project with sunlight penetrating deep into the ground floor and basement of the house.

A series of sequential ‘cuts’ and ‘extrusions’ creates an interplay between indoor and outdoor spaces and multiple visual connections throughout the house.

The main carved out void intersects four floors and incorporates a staircase that animates the whole interior. The staircase encourages movement maintained through the design of the balustrade as it extends towards the terrace at the rear of the house.

 

 

 

Special attention has been given to the detailing and crafting of all timber parts of the design. The hardwood we used was sustainably sourced from fallen trees after Hurricane Felix devastated the north atlantic forests of Nicaragua, a region loved by our client.

We collaborated with Siplemente Madera who worked with indigenous communities to rescue fallen mahogany that had isolated villages after the disaster. All timber screens were prefabricated in Nicaragua, shipped over in a container, and lifted into place through easy site erection and assembly.

 

 

 

For a detailed building study of the Dartmouth Park House, read Robert Bevan’s design review in the Architects’ JournalAY Architects lets the light shine in’.