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PROJECT REPORT: ADAPTIVE REUSE
SPPARC’s main architectural additions were the new extension but also the reinstatement of the top two stories, and the traditional Georgian hipped roof structure. However, the practice was actually appointed by the client based on its masterplan project in Tbilisi (which involved the client’s finance director in his previous role at another family office in Mayfair), before they even identified this building in Fitzrovia as the ideal location. Building on their fruitful partnership, SPPARC assisted the client in their search and purchase of the townhouse, however the client wasn’t initially inclined to go for another heritage project, having previously been in an inherently cellular Georgian house in St James’s, Piccadilly. A trip to SPPARC’s studio in Bedford
LAYERED
The extension’s roof is a combination of structural CLT oak hexagonal sections, and a filigree of smaller sections within; topped by hexagonal glazing elements
Square, itself a Georgian townhouse conversion, saw the client change their mind, and want to adopt a similar restoration approach to a new office. “They thought that it could be a bit too constrained, but then they came to our studio and saw how we had opened it up and made it a collaborative environment, and we encouraged them to revisit a building they had previously dismissed.” Morriss says the client “fell in love” with the building they now occupy, despite the “complexities of the building’s planning history,” which included “work done that was unauthorised.” He says that the client “recognised they were taking on quite a liability at the outset.” He adds: “We had to be very clear with them about their statutory obligations,” and then the practice got in touch with Camden Borough, who luckily they know well, and Historic England, to show them the location of the proposed renovation. Morriss exclaims that, despite the project sitting just outside the conservation area: “I’ve never seen a conservation area officer so outwardly distressed as the officer from Camden, when she saw the work that had been completed without permission years before.” The real damage was done on the uppermost two levels (the second and third floors), which were being rented out for living accommodation, says Morriss. “Walls, staircases and roofs were taken out,” he explains – “all the historic fabric had effectively been replaced, dismantled.” He says this was no accident: “It was a very purposeful piece of design, which just kind of ignored what it was cohabiting with.”
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He adds however that the disgruntled planning department were confident in the proposed project to restore the building’s character, despite the painful recent history of bypassing planning. And the architects were confident they could “reverse things, and make a handsome job out of it.” Now, this family office has the whole refurbished and restored second floor as a modern workspace for its charitable arm, as well as a range of other spaces including the new ‘heart’ that is the social hub in the extension. The lower ground level has its own secure access enabling the social enterprise working with Camden Council which occupies it to have a separate workspace.
Redressing the balance The project redresses the previous alterations to the second and third floors, drawing on SPPARC’s experience of “striking the balance between restoring and re-imagining heritage buildings.” The architects put the emphasis on restoring the original Georgian plan form’s proportions allied with making “sensitive interior responses,” but more fundamentally, reinstated level three of the five levels, which had been removed.
In addressing the restoration of the existing structure, Trevor Morriss explains that as is typical for this kind of SPPARC project, they did copious historical research of the building and its locality to identify how and when to replace and when to repair. “And doing it in a really sensitive and quite faithful way, but not pastiche.” He gives the example of reinstating a stair “in the spirit of the original’ up to the attic, which would have historically been the servants quarters. This resulted in a “very simple, but very well crafted” timber stair, “elegantly detailed,” but running traditionally along one side of the building rather than through the centre of the upper two levels as the previous addition had. Also, the hipped roof which had been removed was restored, plus reclaimed slates, “a lot of lead work, and meticulous details.” SPPARC undertook an extensive process of studying the building’s original layout and those of the surrounding properties, including using historical documents to create a coherent and authentic result in the restored building. Morriss explains the approach: We wanted to get into that craftsmanship and that making,” which was inherent to the precisely
ADF NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
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