Tune house nearing completion
Our house conversion project on the bank of Mjøsa lake, 90km north of Oslo, is nearing completion. Interior work progressed well these last few weeks and, with the winter now receeding, the exterior insulation and landscaping will soon start. Great work by our client and builder Chriss Brohaug.
Tune House on site
The Tune house is now on site, with the roof going up. The project, located on the bank of the Mjøsa, Norwegian's largest lake, involves the rebuilding of a two-story building into a family house and an attached workshop.
We are reusing part of the existing concrete structure — an unusal object in the Norwegian housing world! — and fully glazing the south facing gable wall to frame stunning views to the surrounding hills and neighbouring lake.
Upgrading a 1920s house
This project is currently on the drawing board in the practice, and we thought it worth sharing some interesting aspects of the process so far.
We started out with a client with a beautiful property... that is unfortunately an energy guzzler and has a layout that just doesn't work for the family's lifestyle. The house features a half-timbered front and an interior with many Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts features. The rear elevation however has many problems with the detailing and a too-hot/too-cold (and out of keeping) conservatory.
We brought Hockerton Housing Project in to create a 'Home Energy Masterplan' for the property. They thoroughly surveyed the existing fabric and identified cost-effective and practical methods to improve the energy performance of the building. Their report identified measures and payback times for a range of approaches, from the 'no brainer' moves that would pay off straight away to the 'green halo' measures that improve sustainability but might not pay off for years or even decades to come.
We took that information and worked with Branch Construction, an environmentally aware building company, to develop budget costing and buildability strategies on a number of different design options. Having worked out what the current problems were with the house, we developed some ideas for solving them and creating an amazing new home for our client. This centres around a completely remodeled core to the house, linking front to back and interior to garden.
Finally, we rated the options for cost/buildability, sustainability and design – presenting the conclusions as an architectural strategy report. You can download a public version of this report.
This thorough-going approach has helped our client through some tough decisions on the project scope, and the trade-offs between cost, sustainability and payback time. Having established a scheme that can be completed as a Permitted Development (not requiring planning permission) we are now developing the project into the detailed design stage.
Work underway on the 'eco garage'
The new roof is on and first sheepswool in place for this garage conversion in north Nottingham.
We have something of a dream team for us on this project, with an all-female building team led by Clare Davies, Price and Myers engineers and Turton doing building control. Add a client with genuine passion for environmentally friendly building and it promises be a very nice project indeed.
Update: October and the project is nearing completion. With the mezzanine installed and the walls insulated, plastered and painted it is really taking shape. Nice joinery work from Clare and this is turning into a desirable, cosy living space.
Finishing touch
Mélanie and Béranger have been working hard on their self-build barn conversion during these last months. After creating the new openings in the stone walls, installing the new roof and finishing all the groundwork, they are now getting ready to repoint the interior of the freshly cleaned stone walls with lime mortar.
We are now finalising the detailed drawings for the internal timber structure while they manage the site themselves and do the hands-on building under their own steam. We are following their progress through their personal blog dedicated to the project.
2hD in RIBA journal
A great article on East Midlands regional architecture practice has appeared in the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. It features 2hD's Alina Hughes talking about her dual roles in practice and education, and the importance for the region of retaining talented graduates.
See the online version of the RIBA Journal.
1 Thoresby Street — Art space
We’ve had a chance to find out more by getting involved with the 1 Thoresby Street building, part of BioCity where the Stand Assembly artist studios, and the influential Moot gallery (which recently disbanded) have been given space. It’s a vibrant place with artist studios and several galleries from the poster-sized Keep Floors and Passages Clear, to the bedroom sized Trade to the 180m2 attic space. It was the Reading Room for the fantastic Hinterland project, a base for experiments in projection from Annexinema and is now the base and a major venue for the upcoming Sideshow- the British Art Show fringe event.
We’ve been helping the artists to get to grips with their building, making something workable, safe and with a strong identity on a minimal budget and, with the future of the building uncertain due to development and road widening plans, probably temporary. It’s a work in progress and an association with the art scene in Nottingham that we hope will continue. For us, it has also spawned a collaboration with artist Tristan Hessing on a piece for the Lincolnshire coast… but more on that later.
At 1 Thoresby Street an empty, wasted and forlorn building has had new life breathed in to it. We urge you to get down there to catch some Sideshow events, which run from 22 October to 18 December.
Chapeau et bottes
Our self-build barn conversion project in France is progressing well, with the new roof and floor slab now completed.
More photos on our client's blog…
Light boxes Pt.2: Quick plan views
This week at Mannings School it was all about preparing material for an exhibition. Rather than drawing plans, we decided to photograph the lightboxes the students made last week from above. The models were fine as lightboxes, but a bit scrappy for the plan view, so we added some sketchy detail and people.
Supergraphics
In collaboration with Chris Matthews (graphic designer, artist, historian...) we proposed some supergraphics for an artists studio and gallery building.
