Blending the Modern and the Traditional

By Hend Seif El Din

The eco-friendly house on Rockmount Road, London, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a private garden, as well as off-street parking. The external shell of the house incorporates vernacular elements, including brick façades and pitched roofs. Regarding the interiors, however, a stark contrast is created, due to the entirely modern arrangement. The latter also employs Solidspace’s trademark ‘split section’, which uses half levels to create exciting open-plan living spaces with outstanding levels of natural light. The key social spaces of the house – the areas for eating, living and working – feel connected but semi-private at the same time. This design not only creates volume, it also eradicates the traditional areas of wasted space such as hallways.

At the heart of the home is the sunken kitchen / dining room, with full-height glazed sliding doors to the lawned garden. Up one half-level is the living space, with the study area a half-level above that. There is one bedroom on that level with the second bedroom and family bathroom on the next half-level and another bedroom with en-suite shower room in the roof space.

The house is equipped with oak engineered hardwood floors, gas-fired underfloor heating to the main living and kitchen areas, slate floor tiles, solid granite kitchen worktops, fully integrated Bosch kitchen appliances, ceramic tiles, solid-core timber doors, Cat 5e cabling and low-energy lighting. It also incorporates high-performance double-glazed windows, high levels of insulation and superior air tightness to help eliminate drafts and reduce heat loss. A mechanical ventilation and heat-recovery unit offers improved air quality and energy efficiency.

Solidspace is a very rare example of a development company with a commitment to architectural excellence. Its homes have been recognized by, among others, the Civic Trust, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the American Institute of Architects and the Mies Van der Rohe Foundation. Its most well-known project is One Centaur Street in London, designed with the renowned Anglo-Dutch architects dRMM in 2003. One of the most critically acclaimed residential buildings in recent memory, it was described by Jonathan Glancey of The Guardian as “a minor masterpiece.”