AJ Manser Supplement, November 2011

In association with

RI BA#\!

HSBC Private Bank

HSBC ~

Contents

04 Michael Manser FOREWORD

06 Past winners pick the houses that influenced their own work OUR FAVOURITE HOUSES

THE SHORTLIST 10

Plans, photos and jury citations for each of the five shortli sted houses THE WINNER 22

Duggan Morris Architects present 3A Hampstead Lane WORKING DETAIL 32

The winning building in detail

34 Introducing this year's panel

THE JUDGES

THE ARC HITECTS' JOURNAL GREATER LONDON HOUSE HAMPSTEAD ROAD LONDON NW1 7EJ

THEAJ.CO.U I<

02

Project editor James Pal/ister Art edi tor Brad Yend/e Prod uction editor Mary Douglas Des igner Ella Mackinnon Sub-editor Abigail Gliddon Com mercial manager James Macleod MA NSE R MEDAL 20I I

Foreword

These homes are exceptional examples of how cli ents and architects can work together

The 2011 RIBA Manser Medal in association with

HSBC Private Bank MANS ER MEDAL 201 I

HSBC ~

The Manser Medal for the best new house or major extension in the UK high lights the extraordinary talent and creative expertise leading the way in arch itecture.

HSBC Private Bank sponsors the award because it reflects our belief that investing in innovative design adds both to the value of the property and the quality of the living experience.

From urban homes squeezed into tight city sites to sweepi ng woodland hideaways, this year's shortlist demonstrates the trends and qualities that cl ients investing in newly des igned private houses seek.

Ultimately, the shortlisted properties are exceptional examples of how clients and architects can wo rk together to create outstanding homes.

Many of our cl ients share our passion for design and architecture.

We provide services to high net wo rth individuals and their families in over 40 countries and territories across the wo rld. Through HSBC Private Bank subsidiary Property Vision, we are able to offer insight, knowledge and experience in the property market.

This expertise is evident in our partnership with the RIBA; Property Vision managing director Peter Mackie has joined the Manser Medal judging panel fo r the last two years, alongside Michael Manser and the RIBA's head of awards, Tony Chapman .

Furthermore, the re lationship reflects our shared values and offers us an opportunity to make invaluable connections with and on behalf of our clients . lt also builds on our wider international sponsorship programme, which includes the annual design fair Design Miami/ Base I, the Pavilion des Arts et du Design in Paris and The Connection Collection, our private col lection of lim ited ed ition des ign.

In continuing our commitment to supporting exce llence and innovation in design and arch itecture around the world, we extend our warmest cong ratu lations to the winner of the 2011 Manser Medal.

Declan Sheehan, chief executive officer, HSBC Private Bank (UK)

OJ

Foreword The founder of the Manser Medal explains how it advocates for higher standards in housing design, what was so good about Georgian homes, and why the prize could be as big as the Stirling

Not all architectural awards are named after dead white male arch itects. Although I plead guilty on the last three coun ts, I am sti ll actively invo lved wi th the award which bears my name, and keen that it should help rai se the standard of housing design. Shockingly, on ly about 20 per cent of UK housing is designed by arch itects, so we have set ou rselves a daunting task. But if we can use the Manser Medal to reward the very best and, implicitly, shame the worst, then we wi ll have made a good start.

As judges, we are looking for an inspirational step forward

To sustain the Manser Medal's reputation and to retain the interest of architects, the publ ic and the press, the medal need s somethin g to distingui sh it from the many oth er housing awards. The building s we co nsider are a cut above the rest, in that each has already wo n an RI BA Award . But the Manser judg es are looking for extra qualiti es that match the architects' intellectual aspirations.

Historically, architecture has always responded to society's needs, coming up with new methods and

0

~

~~~~~~~

- - - -- - - - - - - - - G2002- BROOKE COOMBES HOUSE

2001 Studio Bednarski 2002 Burd Haward Marston Architect s

2003 Jamie Fobert Architects 2004 Mole Architec ts

MANSER MEDAL 20! I

materials that exploit the latest technical developments, all within the compass of reasonab le expenditure. As judges, we are looking for an inspirational step forward, perhaps an experimental approach, certain ly an unequivocal 21st-century solution for 21stcentu ry occupants.

Our aim is to influence both the mass house-bui lding companies and the general public in the direction of better design. There is huge public interest in houses; the amount of media coverage is evidence of that.

The Manser Medal cou ld potentially have as big a following as the Stirling Prize, and so expose the talent of younger practitioners, whose abilities are grossly under-used. Many successful architect s begin their careers with domestic projects .

The 18th century produced the finest housing and planning ever seen. lt was design-led, and in the main promoted by architectdevelopers or aristocrats who had done the Grand Tour and were keen to try out what they had learned on their travels on their own estates.

Based on classical geometry but with standard details for doors, windows, stairs and panelling , these plans expressed simple ideas for startlin gly modern homes which satisfied in creasing ly sophisticated consumers from a range of income groups. Always a desirable purchase, Georgian houses are sti ll are proving as good an investment as ever.

But then, as TS Eliot said, 'Only the genuinely new can ever be truly traditional'.

Michae/ Manser CBE, PPRIBA

2005 Robert Dye Associates

2006 Knox Bhavan Architects 2007 Alison Brooks Architects 2008 Rogers Stirk Harbour

+

Partners

2oog Pit man Tozer Architects 2010 Acme

MANS E R MEDAL 201 I

os

Our favourite houses From Palladio's Villa Capra to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, the one-off house has given countless architects the chance to explore and develop their art. We asked past Manser Medal-winners to tell us about the houses that most influenced them

Studio Bednarski 2001 winner I Merthyr Terrace Casa Natale di Raffaello, Urbino

While Farn sworth House, where I was fi lmed t wo years ago for Dream Homes, is a tempting choice, it is not really a 'house'. Scanning my memories it is Casa di Raffaello in Urbino, which I visited in 1986, that still stands out. Humans have inertia when in motion and we cannot do sharp turns: not many designers think about this. Moving throug h this house felt so fluid , smooth and natural that I still fin d it unbeatable, and whil e relatively sparse it felt homely. But maybe it all was just the enduring au ra of the young Raphael. . .

Cezary Bednarski

Bu rd Haward Marston Architects 2002 winner I Brooke Coombes House Traditional Amsterdam canal house

A very hard choice. If pushed , I would say the tradi ti onal A msterdam canal house, for hundreds of reasons, architectural and personal. Not strictly one-offs (though most of them are), I love their squeezed frontages wh ich give brilliant urban density. Their brickwork, fenestration and expressive gables are at once co mpl etely individual and part of a whole. Their generous, uncurtai ned windows allow th e streets to extend into the homes, and vice versa. This 0 blu rring of private to public co nti nues ~ to the street itse lf, where there are ~ no pave ments, raised kerbs or ye ll ow 0: !j! li nes, just a change in material.

5 Catherine Burd

o6

MANSER MEDAL 20I I

Jamie Fobert Architects 2003 winner I Anderson House Haus Wittgenstein

Mole Architects 2004 winner I Black House Mackintosh's Hill House, the Eames House

Robert Dye Associates 2005 winner I Stealth House Hanselmann House, Indiana

MANSER MEDAL 20I I

In 1926 Ludwig Wittgenstein abandoned his work in philosophy jo help Paul Engelmann design a house for his sister in Vienna.

Haus Wittgenstein on the Kundmanngasse has played an important role in my thinking since I first saw it in 1993.

Its restrained and austere exterior conceals a rich volumetric interior, both tectonic and clearly based on proportions with an extraordinary wealth of detail.

Jamie Fobert

Two greats have remained with me since I was a teenager, but I have visited neither of them, so they remain as much an idea as a place to live; Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Hill House (pictured left and centre), and Charles and Ray Eames' Pacific Palisades. Between the two they still capture my interest in making a house that has a sense of place, tand the thrill of a house that defies convention. Of houses I've visited or stayed in, Glenn Murcutt's SimpsonLee house is spectacular; it's a house that is designed perfectly for its envi ronment, and is a thrilling space. Meredith Bow!es This was reportedly the first commission for Michael Graves and in my opin ion never bettered by him. During the New York Five's neo-Corbusian period, the move into a Terragni-esque 3D grid of space caught my imagination as a young student in the early 1970s. There is a clear narrative to th is project involving an eventual natural landscape outside, a virtual front cubic volume and even a column that is missing but rationally shou ld be there my first understanding of what an arch itectural metaphor might be.

Robert Dye

,

Knox Bhavan Arch itects 2006 winner I Holly Barn Fisher House, Hatboro

Alison Brooks Architects 20 07 winner I Salt Hou se Mies van der Rohe unbuilt country house

o8

A place still to see is Louis Kahn's Fisher House for its simple yet dynamic plan, exquisite use of materials, detailing and subtle decoration (pictured left and above).

Natural materials touch one another gracefu lly to create an elegance and depth of texture. A place I have known and explored all my life is Hodges Place, a Grade-lllisted 17th-century Kentish farmhouse that was first my grandfather's, and is now my mother's.

Th e old house is made from sh ip's timbers; dark, secret and intri guing, it hinges around a wide spi ral ling timber stair concealed behind a door.

Sasha Bhavan I was about 17 when I first saw the plan for Mies van der Rohe's unbuilt brick cou ntry house and the idea that walls cou ld be 'freed' from a bu ilding had a huge impact on me . I thought the merg ing of architecture and landscape was incredibly exciting, but was disappo inted by the three dimensional expression of the plan .

Marcel Breuer brought a humanising quality to Mies' Modernist paradigm; the Geller House (1 945), Robinson House (1 947) and Hooper House (1 947) al l share the en igmatic 'free' plan and spatial continuum, whi le being more spatially experimental than Miesian contemporaries.

A!ison Brooks MANSER MEDAL 20! I

Rogers Stirk Harbour+ Partners 2008 wi nner I Oxley Wo ods Th e Eames Hou se, Pacific Palisades

Pitman Tozer Architects 2009 win ner / The Gap House Azum a House, Osaka

Acme 2010 winner I Hunsett Mill Villa Muller, Prague

MANS ER MEDAL 20! I

I've always been inspired by the Eames House and the legacy ret by the Case Study House programme. Th e Eames House (pictured left and centre) is a truly great example of architecture that celebrates facto ry production and the use of manufactured processes.

In particular, I love the fact that it was designed through a series of phone calls. Thi s legacy of using prefabricated components is reflected in contemporary archite cture in the UK thro ugh projects such as the Rogers House in Wimbledon and the Hopkins House in Hampstead.

Andrew Partridge I lived in Kobe, Japan for a year and spent most weekends searching out buildings by Tadao Ando and other Japanese architects. Despite numerous efforts, I never found this house and know it only throug h drawings and images. Th e bui lding is on a tiny plot and is deceptively simple. it's an inward looking , two-storey, cou rtyard house, with just a doorway onto the street four rooms that gain light and air from th e fifth . I admire Ando's ab ility to convince his cli ent th at walking from the livi ng roo m, outside, to get to th e bedroom was a good id ea.

Luke Tozer As a student, I spent a year analysing how pri vate houses can be defined as spaces of pri vacy and exposure, unfolding through movement. Th e most interesting and influential house in my research catalogue was Vi lla Muller by Ado lf Loos. The longer you look, the more you learn. You can take away that incredib ly complex composition of spaces that sit in a deceptive ly si mpl e architectural vo lume. Neither Vi lla Muller nor Loos is fau ltless, and many other houses have been influential on ou r thin king and work, but thi s is one we come back to quite often.

Friedrich Ludewig

Shortlisted /Watson House

John Pardey Architects Location N ew Forest National Pm路k Photography ]am es Nforris IO

MANS ER MEDAL 20! I

LJ5m N-E)

J Site plan MANSER MEDAL 20 I I

Th ere is an integrity and elegant simplicity to this house: a sing le, long, linear shape in a New Forest clearing. The brief was for a holiday home within the woods to comply with th e requirement, having won planning perm ission on appeal, that it would be invisible from the public realm.

The building is staked to the ground by its broad brick ch imney, but otherwise it floats above the landscape in a way that is graceful and timeless. Th e structure is constructed from cross-laminated prefabricated panels clad in locally grown sweet chestnut strips. The timber panels not on ly minimise the carbon footprint , but also allowed the building to be built quickly.

Large areas of glass are recessed

under overhangs, which min im ises heat gain and strengthens the flow between spaces inside and outside.

With its timber frame in-filled wi th glass and timber panels and its meticulous detai ling, the Watson House pays homage to Danish examples of the mid-20th century.

Thi s is a simple idea, left strong and not overcooked.

And yet the architecture has been enriched by a playful humour. For example, th e floor-level wind ows give privacy but are at a height that is perfect for pets. Elsewhere, the precise placing of other windows gives privacy but exposes the inner life of the building in a delightfu l way.

This is a poetic bui lding with the simplicity and symmetry of a sonnet, not an epic.

CREDITS CLIENT

Charles and Fiona Watson CONTRACTOR

NFTS STRUCTURAL ENGINEER

Ramboll UK SERVICES ENGINEER

Energist UK CONTRACT VALUE

ÂŁ640,000 DATE OF COMPLETION

September 201 0 GROSS INTE RNAL AREA

206m' LEGEND

1. Master bedroom 2. Dressing room 3. Ensuite 4. Study 5. Living room 6. Kitch en 7. Bedroom 8. Coat store 9. Utility room 10. Basement/boiler

I I

Shortlist d I Deodar House Eldridge Smerin Location Epsom, Surrey Photography Lyndon D ouglas I2

MANSER MEDAL 20I I

Mezzanine floor plan

Ground floor plan 12

N

Lower ground floor plan

As you approach the house, on a private road of developer pastiche, a sense of surprise is followed by one of satisfaction . Externally, the building delivers the anticipated formula for an expensive, large private house. But the uncompromising massing and unrelenting geometry give way to a homely and welcoming interior.

The house is made up of two wings; one the home, the other the poo l. A scu lptured landscape garden makes a rhomboid of the whole plan.

The building sits slightly submerged in its golf course setting, the lower floor study and bedrooms and indoor pool open onto a sunken sculptured landscape. Th e main wing is ang led at 60° to the pool wing, and the double-storey fair-faced concrete columns are triangular in section.

MANSER MEDAL 201 I

Ljmd

First floor plan

The rhomboid landscaped garden is presented formally with over 100 equi laterally shaped timber planting boxes cascading down, whose regularity is shattered by a chi ld ren's slide. There is something delightfully Frank Lloyd Wright about the triangular obsess iveness.

There are seven 80-metre deep boreholes for ground source heating and so lar thermal water heating panels on the roof. The mass concrete structure itself acts as a thermal heat store and maintains constant temperatures throughout the year. Al l the rooms are naturally ventilated. The project is in a long architectural tradition -the large and lavish private house -that promotes experimentation with the building type, yet turns it into an art form.

LEGEND

1. Reception 2. Kitchen/dining 3. Living room 4. Terrace 5. Landing/lobby 6. Media room 7. Utility room 8. Plant 9. Gym 10. Swimming pool 11 . Bedroom 12. Office 13. Store CR EDITS

CLI ENT

lan and Lelyana

Harris CONTRACTOR

Robin Ellis

Construction STRUCTURAL ENGINEER

TALL Consulting SERV ICES ENG INEER

StudioNine CONTRACT VALU E

ÂŁ2.6m

DATE OF COM PLETION

January 2010 GROSS INTERNAL AREA

7 15m 2

IJ

Shortlisted /New Mission Hall Adam Richards Architects Location Plaistow, West Swse:>.: Photography A dam Richards Architects

14

MANS ER MEDAL 2 01 I

This little house is as perfect as it is difficult to describe. lt sits in the crook of an old drovers' road, on the site of a former chapel that lost its battle with the roots of an ancient oak. The oak remains, its branches all but crad lin g the upper room of one of the two offset buildings that form the house.

The building that faces the road evokes the old chape l, with its apsidal curved end wall and simple pitched roof. The other looks out over the Sussex countryside and has more of a pavilion shape and an origami-li ke duo-pitch roof.

The two are joined together by the entrance and staircase, which leads into the garden. Here, lavender beds mask rainwater harvesting and ground-source heat pumps.

The more conventional building is faced in reclaimed local earthenware tiles and has a soft rounded end that leads you to the entrance. Once inside you have a view through to the garden and the setting sun .

Downstairs, all is solid and secure, with cave-like black stone, little niches and white brick barrel-vaulted cei lings. Upstairs is airy and light, with irregular oak floorboards and full-height windows in deep reveals with bespoke walnut furniture dividing the spaces and housing usefu l things, like plates and PCs. Thi s is a beautiful design on a small and difficult site. lt is an accomp li shed and unique piece of architecture, simultaneously complex and simple.

CR EDITS

CLI ENT Nicholas Taylor and Dean Wheeler CONTRACTOR

Ceecom

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER

Structure Workshop CONTRACT VALUE

Undisclosed DATE OF COMPLETION

October 2010 G ROSS INT ERNAL AREA

150m2

LEGEND

1. Bathroom 2. Master bedroom 3. Bedroom

4. Hall 5.

6.

7.

8.

Study Dining room Living room Kitchen

First floor plan

Ground floor plan

MANSER ME D AL 20I I

IS

Shortlisted /Ty Hedfan Featherstone Young Location Pontfaen, Brecon Photography Tim B rotberton

r6

MANS ER MEDAL 201 I

The name Ty Hedfan means 'hovering hou se'. Building on a tight, sloping ri vers ide plot with a cantilever th at gets round the seven-metre no-build zone next to the ri ver, the arch itect has created a building that not only feels at one with the landscape, but in the use of materials and by clever consideration of the building's orientation, also blends into the architecture of the nearby villag e.

The design uses a tall , striking and expressive nine-metre tall dry-stone wall as the knuckle between the

rectangular form of the main house and the cranked bedroom wing, wh ich is buried into the hillside under a green sedum roof. lt is as if th e house has emerged from the ruin s of an ancient Welsh castle. And from the road you are only aware of the slate clad and roofed form of the main building with concealed guttering.

The arrival seq uence through the triple-height stone-clad lobby into a compressed space that hou ses a boot room, utility and bathroom permits a glimpse through to the

kitchen and beyond . Once in the kitchen you become aware of the real connection to n ~t ure, wh ich is enhanced by incorporating an external terrace into the plan. Th e best views are from th e cantilevered living room where you feel that you are among the trees. But equally good are the views of the cantil ever from the bedroom s.

A confident and innovative so lution to the demands of a difficult site has provided the architect owners with a delightful rural retreat.

CREDITS

CLIENT Jeremy Young & Sarah Featherstone

CONTRACTOR

Osborne Builders STRUCTURAL ENGINEER

Techniker CONTRACT VALUE

ÂŁ530,000 DATE OF COMPLETION

July 2010 GROSS INTERNAL AREA

223m 2 BUILDING STUDY

See AJ 14.04. 11

LEGEND

1. Living room 2. Terrace 3. Kitchen 4. Cloakroom 5. Utility room 6. Hallway/entrance 7. Bedroom 8. Bathroom/We

N

L_:ra Ground floor plan

Upper floor plan

0

MANSER MEDAL 2011

Shortlisted I Balancing Barn MVRDV with Mole Architects Location Thorrington, S4Jolk Photography Edmund Sumner

r8

MANSER MEDAL 2 01 I

In one sense, it's not difficult to do something dramatic in the flat hinterland of the Su ffolk coast. But what the architects have achieved here is truly unique. Th ere is more of a tradition of radical, sing le-minded projects in MVRDV's homeland of the Netherlands; it takes a brave client to all ow them to translate such id eas to East Ang li a.

Thi s th en is a Dutch barn for a very English landscape. Or, given its mirrored metal cladding, a stretched Airstream caravan about to topple over the edge. Just seven metres wide, half of its 30-metre length is bravely canti levered. Th e eng ineer has pushed the structure- and its users - as far as possible, even opening up a window in the living room fl oor to demonstrate their daring

from the inside as we ll as the outside.

Th ere is a delightful sense of the accidental about this project that wou ld be much more in line with the feeling of a barn conversion or something that had developed over time. Yet there is consistency too, in the use of ash panels on walls, floors and ceil ings, giving an almost carved quality to the interior that is cleverly at odds with the slight defections which remind the visitor that for half the time they are suspended in mid-air.

Thi s was designed as a holiday home for small groups of peop le to stay for short periods of time and have a dialogue with the landscape.

Creatin g bui ldi ngs that can evoke powerfu l fee lin gs is very rare, but the Balancing Barn certainly has a strangely disturbing beauty.

I'

lVIANSER MEDAL 20I I

~V\

CR EDITS

Living Architecture

CLI ENT

CONTRACTOR Seam ans STRUCTURAL ENGINEER

Jane Wernick Associates SERVIC ES ENGINEER

Jane Wernick

Associates CONTRAC T VALUE

Undisclosed DAT E OF COMPLETION

October 2010 GROSS INTERNAL AREA

220m 2 BU ILDI NG STUDY

See AJ 21.1 0. 10

LEGEND

1. Living room 2. Bedroom 3. Bathroom 4. Hallway 5. Dining room/kitchen

Winner I Duggan Morris Architects Hampstead Lane Location H ighgate Village, L ondon Photography ] ames B rittain

22

MANS ER MEDAL 20I I

This sensitive and rigorous renovation of a 1960s Brutalist house has taken an austere structure , with its unpromising street view and maze of cellular rooms, and made it into a house that lifts the spirits.

The architects' approach throughout has been to question what is strictly necessary to the functionality of the house and to pare back according ly. Hence the removal of two internal walls that ran the full depth of the house, which have been replaced by a straightforward steel structu re.

Thi s means the main room is flooded with natural light, while the intimacy of the bedrooms has been retained. Two of these open out on to the garden, as does the main living-eating-cooking space, wh il e the mezzanine master

MANSER MEDAL 20II

bedroom overlooks it across a strip of planted roof. The garden is a delight; a rectang le of landscape that in summer doubles the living space via the fu lly-g lazed sli ding doors.

Despite the extensive renovation, the character and qualities of the original structu re remain intact, taking on an altogether different quality when set against the sensitive interventions that define the project.

This has been a labour of love, approached with an appreciation and care for the original house and its history. The clients, both considerable arch itects in their own rights, have taken the sensible but unusual step of callin g in other architects to realise their dream. The result is a joy to step into. In Michael Manser's words, 'this is tru ly a house of its tim e and of the moment'. >>

CREDITS CLIENT

Graham Stirk and Susie Le Good CONTRACTOR

ME Construction STRUCTURAL EN GINEER

Elliott Wood CONTRACT VA LUE

ÂŁ500,000 DATE OF COMPLETION

Not known GROSS INTERNAL AREA

200m 2

23

Ground fl oor plan

\ ''

\

I I

I I I

~/ I

D 2 I I I I I I I I

to_ ___ _

11

I I I I I

I

- - - - - - - - - - - LD

11 11

:I I I I

I

,''

_,,'

11 11

~:

1------- - - - -- -------~i I

5

4

11 11 11 11 11 11

I I I I

I

I

I

li

I

I

\

I

I

I I

I

I

I I I

I I I I I

0

I I

24

00 J 000 MANSER MEDAL 201 I

First floor plan

LEGEND

1. Entrance 2. Living room/kitchen 3. Garage 4. Bedroom 5. Study 6. Bathroom 7.WC B. Utility room 9. Master bedroom 10. Void 11 . Plant 12. Wardrobe 13. Ensuite 14. Terrace 15. Green roof 16. New planter

15

9

14

l

I

I I

I

I

I I

I I

I I

I I

I I

I

MANS ER ME DAL 20 I I

0

j

00 000 25

Arch itects' view Mary Dugg an and Joe Morris Background and planning considerations Highg ate is one of the most expensive London suburbs to live in and it has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, engaged in the protection of its character.

This bui lding, a low-ri se Modernist property constructed in the 1g6Qs, was designed and bui lt by a wellknown local architect couple who lived there in the last years of th eir lives; Douglas Stirling Crai g, and his wife Margaret.

Stirling worked for Coventry City Council, Stevenage Development Corporation, and with Margaret set

LEGEND

1 . Prism over void 2. Bedroom 3. Living room 4 . Kitchen 5. Front garden 6. Rear garden

Above The

mezzanine bed room looking on to the back garden Right The

green roof

up architectural practice in the late 1950s, completing a number of notabl e projects for private res ident ial cli ents in a Brutalist style, with exposed surfaces inside and ou t. Th is approach is evident in th e design of 3A Hampstead Lane, built in 1968.

The original building The original bu ilding featured four or five bedrooms, along wit h reception rooms, a kitchen, dining room, utility room, t wo bathrooms, an integrated garage and a 60-foot garden ove rl ooked by the glassdominated rear of th e house.

The primary palette of materials consisted of a light-colou red, fair-faced blockwork skin, both inside and out, with a silver sand and wh ite cement mix. Thi s was punctuated

with mill-fin is h alumin ium window frames and cop ing with flu sh, pre-finished white hardboard-faced doors to th e front and f lank elevati ons. To the rear, the primary material was glazing, again in mi ll-fin ish alu minium, with panels in a cl ear lacqu ered birch ply. The wind ow surrou nds we re completed in a plain deal pine and th e window sill s in mahogany.

Internally, th e floors we re laid with a white-fl ecked vinyl asbestos tile.

All the interior joists and woo dwo rk were in plain wood , except for the top of th e T and G plan king on th e first floor. There we re no skirting boards or door trims, and the on ly places with a dropped ce il ing were the kitchen, entry and utility room.

The original heating was underfloor electric embedded in the screed. >> MANSE R ME DAL 20I I

Secti on A-A

6

4

3 ,' ,' ,'

/ /

MANSER MEDA L 20I I

/

5

28

lVIANSER MEDAL 20! I

The brief Working close ly with the client, a brief emerged that sought to carry out a full renovation of the building fabric, whi le intervening carefu lly to create a contemporary dwelling with a more fluid arrangement of spaces, rather than

MANSER MEDAL 20I I

the cellul ar original. The brief also sought a greater connection qf the living spaces to the gardens, wh ich themselves would be comp letely redes igned. At roof level, it was intended to replace the existing membrane with a modern version, while the services were completely overhauled to modern standards. >>

The interventions

This image

The open plan

the mezzanine

The renovation focused on retaining the integrity of the original house, through extensive research and analysis of historic documents, drawings, photographs and archived material. Much of the work involved cleaning and restoring the exposed blockwork, while the glazing system was designed to closely accord with the original single-glazed system, but with modern standards and U-values.

Where interventions to the layout of the internal spaces were required, this enabled clear communication of new structural elements, including the new darkgrey steel frame, which spans the key spaces in place of previous load-bearing walls . The project also included a fully integrated scheme for the landscape, which is now more connected to the internal spaces .

Elevation

30

MANS ER MEDAL 20I I

MANSER MEDAL 20 1 I

3I

Working detail South facade detai l

32

Th e majority of the components used for the detailing are assemb led from the building's original design. The skil l involved in the construction process thu s stems from a deep knowledge of the bu ilding techniques, materials and design ambition of the orig inal architects, Stirling and Margaret Craig.

Throug hout the project, our intent has focused on two basic premises .

Firstly, to do little to alter what we have been given. Seco ndly, to intervene where necessary, but to do so honestly and with compassion for the language of the orig inal building.

In the detail illustrated, you will find both these consi derations.

The foundations, roof stru cture and blockwork we re in place. The glazing , a thin-framed aluminium system, matched th e sig htlines of the origi nal, albeit with doubl e rather than sing le glazing. The screed, while new, is set to the same datum as the original, but incorporates improved insulation and a modern 'wet' underfloor heating system .

At roof level, we have merely overlaid the 'repaired ' asphalt with a thi ck-planted sedum zone. Th e living spaces below have been opened up with new steel 'I' sections supportin g the primary loads fol lowing th e removal of load-bearing masonry.

Joe Morris, director, Ouggan Morris Architects

MANS ER MEDAL 20! I

1. Existing DPC 2. Timber weatherboarding 3. New 'wet ' underiloor heating system 4. New DPC 5. Ground-bearing brickwork 6. External timber deck 7. Existing slab 8. Polished concrete se reed

9. Black timber surround to glazing t 0. Threshold to align With top of screed 11 . Existing blocks cut to size to be re~ used where

visible above ground 12. Fineline external

sliding doubleglazed door in natural anodised

aluminium frame 13. Vent flap insulation 14. Hinged vent flap 15. Existing gypsum board with skim plaster finish 16. Roof deck insulation

1 7. Existing timber joist 18. Breather membrane

19. Vapour control layer 20. Existing roof covering

21. Existing strip foundation 22. Drainage layer 23. Washed gravel edge 24. Planting substrate 25. Galvanised steel angle 26. Aluminium pressing

27. Existing blockwork wall 28. New below-screed Insulation

MANSER MEDAL 20I I

33

Judges

Innovator, educator, writer and leader in the profession, Michael Manser established the Manser Practice in 1961. He has written for and edited Architectural Design and was the the Observer's architectural correspondent from 1961 to 1964.

He was RIBA president between 1983-5. The Manser Medal was created in 2001 in his honour as long-term chairman of the National HomeBuilder Design Awards.

1\BOUT TH E MEDA L

The Manser Medal became part of the HI BA Awards in 2003, with entries being drawn from schemes winning HIBA Awards in that year. Michael Manser has chaired the jury every year since its inception.

Friedrich Ludewig founded Acme in London in 2007, and won the Manser Medal just three years later for Hunsett Mil l in Norfolk. He studied at the Technical University and Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, before moving to London to study at the Architectural Association .

Between 2000 and 2007 he worked at Foreign Office Architects, first in Tokyo then in London. As associate director at FOA he was responsib le for projects including the London 2012 Olympic masterplan.

Managing director of Property Vision since 1996, Peter Mackie has been with the company since 1994.

He was appointed managing director of HSBC Private Bank with sole responsibility of running Property Vision in 2007. Previously, Peter was an associate director for a firm of surveyors.

34

Joanna eo-founded van Heyningen and Haward Architects in 1983.

Recent buildings include an education centre for RSPB Rain ham Marshes and No 1 Smithery, a museum at Chatham Historic Dockyards. Joanna is a member of CABE's Crossrail and Thames Tunnel Panels, a BOA award assessor, a trustee of the Building Centre, an external examiner at Cambridge University School of Architecture and a member of the NLA Sounding Board.

Tony Chapman is the RIBA's head of awards, and has been responsible for the RI BA Stirling Prize since its inception in 1996. Previously he was a BBC television producer, and he continues to make films and write books about award-winning architects and bui ldings. He was made an honorary fellow of the RIBA in 2010.

MA N SER MEDAL 2 0II