FITZROY FARM SENSITIVE SCHEMEWITH SEX APPEAL
PROJECT: Fitzroy Farm CLIENT: Private LOCATION: Camden, London PROJECT ARCHITECT: SHH COMPLETION DATE: Summer 2012 GROSS AREA: 13,000sqft COST: Undiscloosed
Anew-buildmodernist house designed by SHHarchitects, Fitzroy Farmis locatedwithin theHighgate ConservationArea. The 0.45 hectare site bordersHampsteadHeath, but the housewas approved by the Camden Planning Committeewithout a single objection, in spite of the site’s chequered history.Aprevious scheme for a neo- classicalmansion on the site (by a different architect and for a different owner) received planning permission, butwas abandoned due to significant local opposition to the ConstructionManagement Plan, with upwards of 3000 objections. The ConstructionManagement Plan was refused by Camden Council and a subsequent appeal dismissed. By contrast at the Camden Planning Committee hearing for Fitzroy Farm, committeemembers fromCamden Council called the new scheme ‘a fabulous solution to a very difficult and sensitive site’, as well as ‘a super-sexy schemewe can’twait to see built.’ The existing site housed a detached property dating fromthe late
1920s in a neo-Tudor style,which has nowbeen demolished. Surrounding properties are of different ages and of awide variety of styles and designs. The client’s brief for the sitewas to create ‘a spacious, contemporary family home of an exceptional architectural design quality,whichwill provide privacy, be in harmonywith its surroundings and enhance the character of theHighgateConservation Area.’ The newbuilding shows a low-slung house, large in scale but
appropriate for the size of the site. Themain entrance is to the right side of the house, partially screened behind a freestanding statement glasswall. Its partially-glazed and timber-clad exterior is translucent and respectful and designed to sit easily in itswooded environment, with the remaining vertical surfaces in stone and high-performance render. The property has been designed tomaximise themovement of natural air around the interior in a stack effect,with the building management systemallowing asmuch of the house as possible to open up on hot days. The scheme is designed to stand over two and a half floors (including
amezzanine), playingwith scale via several double-height volumes, including an 8.5mentrance hallwith ametal,wood and glass stair that rises through all three levels (ground,mezzanine and first).An additional lower ground floor houses a plant roomand a children’s playroom, illuminated by natural light froma rear lower courtyard. The house is amix of large, dramatic spaces for high-impact arrival
and entertaining, aswell as a number of smaller,more cosy and contained spaces for everyday family use. The principal ground floor rooms include a formal dining room; a central kitchenwith lots of windows to keep the clients’ children in sight; a formal living room incorporating a south-facing conservatory and a large family roomwith 4.5m-high south-facing doors,which open completely onto an outdoor colonnaded terrace. The terrace links up to an 18mx 5minside/outside swimming pool,which has a retractable glass and steel division (both for security and to retain heat),with the outside section shut down in winter and thewhole pool operating as one in the summermonths.A major design feature of the scheme is a curling stainless steelwater chute,which runs directly down fromthe children’s bedrooms on the left-hand side of the house to the pool andwas inspired by artist CarstenHöller’s slide installation in TateModern’s TurbineHall. The chute curls out into the garden trees,with two sections exposed via a Perspex ‘cockpit’ upper tier to allowviews of the garden, before returning, in solid steel format, directly into the swimming pool at ground floor level. Additional spaces above include a study; an art studio for the client’s
artistwife; a gymoverlooking the pool and the bedroomsuites: amaster roomon themezzanine levelwith his’n’hers dressing rooms, sitting roomand bathroomsuite and three children’s rooms on the first floor, all en suite and connected by a single outdoor terrace.
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