Lift & Shift House
A remodelling of an large typical late C20 detached developer house on a corner site in the Hertfordshire Green Belt. The original house was gutted internally and a signifiant volume of the existing masonry structure was propped and replaced with a new steel frame to permit a new open plan with an atria that connected the front and back of the house. This new wide central hub cuts through from the new entrance facade to a new rear facade with panoramic framed views of the open countryside to rear with a new vertical circulation and an undercover courtyard in between. The geometry of the central axis extends beyond the hanging facade of the new rear extension to form a pond and opens to a new garden beyond. The new facade to the rear is characterised by two new living spaces that straddle a courtyard with its hanging bronze facade forming a series of new floating frames to the garden. The two new facades to the front and rear are peeled way from the existing structure and are separated by both structural glass or neutral grey rendered surfaces to clarify and emphasise these new shifted elements.
The refurbishment of the house included a new layout throughout to both levels with new bathrooms, kitchen, utility spaces and a study with new fixtures and fitted furniture designed throughout.