Structure studio Hyde + Hyde has refurbished a Nineteenth-century Gothic-revival residence in Oxford, reinterpreting its decorative type with an extension completed with ornamental steel tiles.
Swansea-based Hyde + Hyde was tasked with remodeling a poorly-maintained property within the North Oxford Victorian Suburb conservation space into a recent household residence backing onto a secluded backyard.
With a view to open up the beforehand compartmentalised interiors, it added a rear extension with a collection of glazed dwelling areas. These are framed by ornamental bands of metal and bronze tiles that includes the quatrefoil motif that gave the venture its identify, Quatrefoil Home.
Whereas the biggest a part of this extension expands the decrease floor ground, an addition to the ground-floor kitchen has been elevated above a parking house atop a sculptural concrete column, with a tombstone-like type that references an inverted gothic arch.
“Impressed by the Gothic revival type and language of the prevailing 1870s townhouse, the brand new up to date intervention is an exploration and celebration of decoration,” defined Hyde + Hyde.
“The brand new addition communicates constructed that means visually by means of a collection of regulating traces and proportional relationships, expressed in metal channels and framed brick facades,” it continued.
With house freed up within the current residence by the extension, Hyde+Hyde was capable of insert a four-storey timber staircase on the constructing’s centre, uniting all of its flooring in a single gesture round a sculptural mild becoming.
The house’s entrance leads into an open corridor that instantly frames this staircase, which is flanked by a studying room and a examine overlooking the road by means of massive bay home windows on the entrance of the house.
On the rear of the house, shifting into the brand new extension, the dwelling and eating areas sit on both facet of a void that overlooks the expanded decrease floor ground beneath. This may be crossed through a small bridge lined with a glass balustrade.
The decrease floor ground incorporates a further bed room and a collection of entertaining areas. These are linked through full-height sliding glass doorways into the backyard, the place a paved terrace options an outside cooking space.
A steel and concrete staircase leads up from the backyard to the roof of the rear extension, the place a ground-floor terrace has been created alongside the kitchen and eating house.
“The kitchen and eating house is pushed out of the prevailing envelope to finish a four-square plan and an open plan floor ground with triple-height areas and layered horizontal spatial sequences,” defined the observe.
“Dissolving the notion of rooms [allows] for a extra linked sense of dwelling. Internally, in complete, 90 bespoke parts have been accomplished, together with a bridge, door handles, customized beds, furnishings and inner joinery,” it continued.
An extra 5 en-suite bedrooms are organised throughout the house’s first and second flooring, inside the footprint of the unique constructing.
Internally, each the prevailing residence and its new extensions are united by up to date finishes in wooden, steel and glass.
Hyde + Hyde was based by Kay and Kristian Hyde in California in 2006, earlier than the duo returned to Kristian’s residence nation of Wales.
Earlier tasks by the observe embrace a house on Wales’ Gower Peninsula, positioned on a limestone cliff and fitted with full-height home windows to seize views of the encompassing panorama, and a seaside residence with a cedar-clad balcony.
