10
views ask the architect
‘Linking the building with a garden is key to the flow of
any house’ Simon Baker of Nash Baker Architects
Broad Street House: traditional materials used
Why did you become an architect?
My father’s English and my mother’s Norwegian, and on the Norwegian side of the family there are quite a few architects. My grandparents designed and built their own house in Norway shortly after they married, and I have vivid childhood memories of running around in their contemporary, light and flowing home, or looking out over the fjord below from the 10 m of glazing in their living room. My grandmother is 92 and the only thing that makes her house look dated is the small kitchen – everything else still feels relevant to modern living. So, even before I knew what architects do, I was interested in the design of dynamic spaces which everyone can enjoy.
What can we learn from foreign architects?
There’s a definite Scandinavian influence in our work – a clean aesthetic with lots of light that responds to its context, setting and environment. The house in Norway exerted a huge influence on me, and helped me to understand how the built environment can affect people’s moods. Going back to our dark, cold houses in England after holidays spent in Scandinavia made me wonder why we don’t design better homes in the UK. Every country has its own architectural challenges, and understanding how other countries tackle theirs can give us new insights into different methods of thinking, designing and building. Innovation is everywhere if we are curious enough to see it and learn from it.
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There’s often a strong connection with the garden in your projects. Is it a deliberate philosophy?
Yes; for me, linking the building with a garden is key to the flow of any house. I can’t always take credit for the garden designs, but my schemes often lead outwards and treat the garden as a continuation of the internal spaces. For example, we created a rear extension on the Newton Road House, a semi-detached Victorian house in London’s Westbourne con- servation area. The contemporary addition not only helped solve the property’s dysfunctional layout but provided a large, flowing modern space with plenty of natural light that had a strong connection to the garden. In such a multi-level house, it’s all about creating easy movement from one level to another and the garden was another very important level to play with.
As a practice you also seem particularly interested in conservation, is that the case?
That is true. A lot of our work is with listed buildings, piecing together their history – which is fascinating, challenging and rewarding. Our recently completed restoration of Church Farm, a Jacobean dwelling in Suffolk, involved the conservation of the remaining historic features and building fabric while sensitively adding contemporary alterations and extensions using authentic traditional materials and craftsmanship. We are based on High Street, Kensington, and The Royal Borough of Continued on page 12...
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